Boeing picks 3 Indian startups with disruptive ideas for Boeing HorizonX India Innovation Challenge

Disruptive ideas on extended reality, UAV tech, and IoT win the Boeing HorizonX India Innovation Challenge.

Boeing on Monday showcased disruptive business ideas at the ‘Demo Day’ of the Boeing HorizonX India Innovation Challenge, held at Boeing India Engineering & Technology Centre (BIETC) in Bengaluru. 

Three Indian startups – Merxius, HUVIAiR, and ZestIoT – joined three teams from BIETC to present to an audience of prospective investors and customers, as well as government stakeholders.

The Demo Day marks the culmination of a three-month accelerator programme. Following a stringent evaluation process, six teams from a competing pool of more than 100 ideas and applications have won the opportunity to join the cohort.

After the three-month accelerator programme, Boeing will help the selected companies take their ideas to market.

Brian Schettler, Managing Director of Boeing HorizonX Ventures said, “Innovation can happen anywhere and startups around the world have the potential to bring disruptive capabilities to aerospace markets and drive our industry forward. Boeing HorizonX is proud to partner with and invest in startups to help them mature and scale their products and services and create value for Boeing customers.”

Boeing will continue to collaborate with the three external startup teams to help further their businesses. The ideas presented by the Boeing teams are being evaluated as potential future company offerings.

The ideas presented by the three external finalists range from extended reality (XR) applications to the use of Internet of Things (IoT) for aerospace. Merxius develops a product that enables the creation of XR environments to save cost and reduce training time in aerospace manufacturing. HUVIAiR refines custom unmanned aircraft services and software solutions for survey and workflow management. ZestIoT explores solutions that connect the airport and airplane ecosystem using IoT to optimise ground handling at airports and improve on-time performance of airplanes.

The six shortlisted startups took part in a three-month accelerator, where thirty subject matter experts from Boeing and T-Hub mentored them and exposed them to potential customers while strengthening their offerings and capability.

“Both external startups, as well as internal ideas, promise to disrupt business models and service delivery in aerospace. We are excited to tap into a new pool of ideas from India, which will surely change the global aerospace industry,” said Pratyush Kumar, President, Boeing India. “I am especially proud of the three Boeing teams from India that have made it to the finals with their ideas and technological breakthroughs”.

Boeing continues to evaluate disruptive startups in India, apart from the Boeing HorizonX India Innovation Challenge finalists, for potential future investments. 

Jay Krishnan, CEO of T-Hub said, “Never before have corporates and startups collaborated as much as they do now. T- Hub is a key cog that enables this and Boeing has been an instrumental partner of ours that embraces that philosophy. To keep pace with the rapid growth of emerging technologies, companies in sectors like aerospace, healthcare, banking, and others will have to focus on building a sustained culture of innovation. The collaborative ecosystem of corporates and startups like the one T-Hub is driving in the country will become a common trend in a few years. Boeing brings a strong legacy of technological breakthroughs, and we are immensely pleased to collaborate with them in exploring the right startup talent to support its innovation goals.”