North-east drone start-up flying high after securing series of project wins

● Bosses hail participation in Elevator Accelerator programme in Aberdeen

An Aberdonian start-up that specialises in the use of drones has seen business take off after securing three new contract wins.

After participating in a “high intensity business coaching programme” at Elevator’s Centre for Entrepreneurship in Aberdeen, Innovair was approached to undertake a trio of large-scale projects, worth a six-figure sum.

The firm, which is just under two years old, said the contracts culminated in more than 100 man-hours in just one week.

Innovair utilises the latest unmanned technology to provide land and hydrographical surveying, inspection and media services – working with a range of architectural, design, surveying and agricultural organisations across the North-east and beyond.

The fledgling business joined the fifth cohort of Elevator’s Accelerator programme in February, alongside 14 other “founders”. It was guided through a trio of four-week phases that covered a variety of business skills including goal setting, business modelling, fundraising and how to pitch successfully for new work.

Stuart Lawson, one of the co-founders of Innovair, said: “Being selected to join the Accelerator programme was the best thing to happen to us.

“By going back to basics and being taught to think outside the box about our business we learned a lot about ourselves and how best to refine and restructure our offering.

“We didn’t expect our efforts to pay-off so quickly when we pitched to prospective clients. The feedback we received was overwhelming and winning the projects was such a huge achievement for us.”

Elevator works across Scotland to help facilitate the startup of new businesses and aid the growth of existing ones.

It currently “engages” with 2,500 start-ups and assists some 1,000 organisations to grow through advisory support.

Jules Lancastle, Accelerator manager at Elevator, said: “Elevator’s Accelerator programme is designed for ambitious, early stage business founders with highly innovative, technology enabled business ideas that show high growth potential.

“We challenge companies like Innovair to think about their business in a way that enables rapid scale to support their move into the fast lane.

“Seeing founders achieve bold revenue goals in such a short amount of time highlights the effectiveness of our accelerated support programme.”

Lawson added: “The sky is no longer the limit for us.”