The spectacular drone show at yesterday’s IPL final was performed by a Make-In-India success story.

As cricket fans packed the stadium and 3.4 crore live viewers watched the IPL 2026 Final live, the mid-innings break brought a moment that had little to do with cricket — and everything to do with what India’s deep-tech ecosystem has quietly been building. BotLab Dynamics, an IIT Delhi-incubated startup, lit up the night sky with a breathtaking Lord Shiva-themed drone constellation, perfectly synced with legendary singer Kailash Kher’s live Shiv Bhakti performance. Formations of a towering trishul, a damru, a dancing depiction of Nataraja, and the IPL trophy emerged and dissolved above the stadium in a display that was equal parts technology and art.

From a Dorm Room to the Nation’s Biggest Stage

BotLab Dynamics was not built overnight. Its origins trace back to 2012, when Tanmay Bunkar — then a third-year Engineering Physics student at IIT Delhi — flew his first UAV and got hooked. By 2014, he and his teammates had delivered eight drones to the Delhi Police, an early proof that the technology had real-world demand. On 18 July 2016, the startup was formally incorporated at the Technology Business Incubator Unit at IIT Delhi, with Bunkar joined by his batchmate Anuj Kumar Barnwal and their professor Dr. Sarita Ahlawat, who serves as Co-founder and Managing Director.

The founding philosophy was ambitious: build sovereign drone technology from scratch, in India, for India. All hardware and software — flight controllers, GPS modules, RF systems, and the swarm intelligence that makes hundreds of drones move as one — are designed and manufactured in-house.

Government Backing, Defence Credentials

The startup’s early credibility earned it institutional support. In 2017, BotLab received its first government funding of ₹50 lakh, followed by a seed fund of ₹1 crore from the Department of Science & Technology for R&D, and subsequently ₹2.5 crore from the Technology Development Board for scale-up and commercialization. In 2019, it was awarded the Prime Minister’s award and an iDEX grant of ₹1.5 crore. The Army Design Bureau (ADB) selected BotLab to demonstrate its heavy-lift drones in Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh, and the company demonstrated its swarm technology to the then Chief of Defence Staff, General Bipin Rawat. Its defence arm, Vayudh, has developed nano-drones with day and night vision currently being tested by the Indian Navy.

A String of World Records

BotLab’s public profile exploded in January 2022, when it put 1,000 Made-in-India drones over Rashtrapati Bhawan during the Beating Retreat ceremony — making India only the fourth country in the world, after the US, Russia, and China, to achieve a show of that scale. It was a landmark moment for Indian deep-tech, and the visuals went viral.

That was just the beginning. BotLab has since set seven Guinness World Records. At the Amaravati Drone Summit in October 2024, a fleet of 5,500 drones broke five world records simultaneously. At Mysuru Dasara 2025, 3,000 drones formed a massive aerial tiger — India’s national animal — earning the startup its sixth Guinness record. The company now holds a fleet of over 10,000 drones and ranks among the top five drone show companies in the world.

The IPL Moment

Last night’s performance was a natural next chapter. Syncing a drone constellation of Lord Shiva imagery — complete with trishul, damru, and a Nataraja formation — with Kailash Kher’s devotional music, in real time, before a packed stadium and crores of live viewers, is an engineering feat that few companies globally could pull off. BotLab did it with entirely homegrown technology.

The company’s journey — from a student’s first UAV flight to the IPL Final stage — reflects what India’s startup ecosystem can produce when deep-tech ambition is matched with patient institution building. For BotLab Dynamics, last night was not just a show. It was a statement.