Why Volar Alta Walked Away From Easy Money to Build Deep Tech

In industrial environments where risk and inefficiencies are often treated as unavoidable, Volar Alta is building a technology-led alternative. The startup focuses on confined-space inspections using drones, robotics, and AI-driven analytics, targeting high-risk sectors such as oil and gas, cement and power. 

At the centre of this shift is Founder and CEO Niharika Kolte, who brings a non-traditional background to deep-tech entrepreneurship.

A former investment banker at PwC and KPMG, Kolte worked on mergers and acquisitions across the energy and infrastructure sectors. It was during one such transaction that she identified a recurring bottleneck in industrial inspections, one that was manual, unsafe, and often incomplete.

That observation led to a structured exploration of non-destructive testing, robotics, and drone technologies.

The insight was clear: inspection processes were not only inefficient but also exposed workers to unnecessary risk. Volar Alta is built to address that gap. 

Building Through Crisis

The company began operations in early 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted industrial activity. Lockdowns halted projects and restricted mobility, forcing an immediate rethink of the business model.

Instead of pausing operations, Kolte pivoted. The company mobilised a network of drone operators, many of them wedding videographers, and collaborated with local authorities to monitor containment zones. The work was manual, but it validated a core idea. 

“I have manually sat down, watched the entire video, and created reports,” Kolte says. This phase demonstrated that remotely captured visual data could be translated into actionable insights, laying the groundwork for the company’s future direction.

As industries reopened, Volar Alta moved to external inspections of renewable energy assets, particularly solar and wind. However, regulatory changes in India’s drone ecosystem led to an influx of new service providers, triggering price competition. For a bootstrapped startup, this created a strategic inflexion point.

Kolte chose to shut down what she calls the company’s “cash cow”, external inspection services, rather than operate with unsustainable margins.

Finding Product-Market Fit in a Niche Segment

The pivot required deeper investment in both hardware and software capabilities. Volar Alta began developing inspection systems combining drones, robotics, and AI models trained on proprietary industrial datasets.

By working with clients such as Adani, Adani Cement, Dalmia Cement, Nuvoco, Vedanta, and Ambuja Cement, the company built domain-specific datasets to detect anomalies in industrial environments.

“The data quality exceeded our expectations, saving us considerable time and effort,” Dalmia Cement notes in a testimonial mentioned on Volar Alta’s website. 

Yet Kolte is cautious about overstating AI's role. “The real magic is not just identifying defects, but understanding their implications in context,” she explains. 

From Services to a Scalable Product

Today, the company’s offering sits at the intersection of inspection, data analytics, and predictive maintenance. Its long-term vision is to transition from a services-led model to a SaaS-based platform focused on continuous monitoring and forecasting of asset health. 

While revenue figures are not disclosed, the shift reflects a broader strategy to derive a larger share of income from software rather than one-time service contracts.

Volar Alta funding was supplemented by grants from the British High Commission and the Indian government programs. Kolte says the decision to delay external funding was intentional, allowing the company to refine its product before scaling.

Market Reality and Competitive Positioning

The industrial inspection market in India presents structural challenges. Large enterprises often pilot digital solutions but struggle to scale them across facilities, while smaller firms face cost constraints.

In contrast, European markets, where Volar Alta is now looking to expand, offer a different opportunity. Higher regulatory compliance and workforce transitions are accelerating the adoption of robotics and automation.

Competition remains fragmented. The company competes with drone service providers such as Aereo, Garuda Aerospace, and Asteria Aerospace, as well as inspection-focused firms. Its differentiation lies in its full-stack approach, combining hardware, software, and domain expertise and its focus on high-risk inspection scenarios.

The journey, however, has not been without challenges. Operating as a bootstrapped startup has meant navigating resource constraints, making cautious bets, and balancing cost with capability. 

Hiring, in particular, has required creative strategies, including a mix of in-house talent and external experts such as PhDs and consultants. The team today ranges from 10 to 15 members, reflecting a lean yet adaptive structure.

Kolte highlights early missteps, including reliance on informal business relationships without strong contractual safeguards. Pricing, too, evolved over time, as the company moved from cost-based to value-based models.

Volar Alta is now focused on scaling its platform and expanding internationally, particularly in Europe. The long-term goal is to build a software-first business, with services playing a supporting role.

According to Kolte, the company’s solutions have enabled up to 100% safety in certain inspection scenarios while reducing downtime and operational costs, key metrics in industries where even a single day of disruption can have a significant financial impact.

Her focus remains on making industrial environments safer, smarter, and more predictable through each inspection, aligned with the company's clear mission.