Startup LeshTronix Drone Systems, inventor of the PhoneQuad Drone, is flying into a new elevation of executive growth with the recent expansion of its leadership team
LeshTronix founder and CEO Neil Lesher made the announcement of several additions to the team this month in a media statement.
“We are extremely excited and fortunate to have these talented, focused, diverse and driven entrepreneurs on our team,” Lesher said. “We’ve also partnered with a brilliant group of Aerospace Engineers to start building our Gen-1 model. Our immediate and achievable goal is to fully launch PhoneQuad into the global consumer sector before Q4 of 2022.
Last year, LeshTronix announced the conceptual launch of PhoneQuad, a hovering phone case that—once developed using proprietary drone hardware and software—will allow users to take photos hands free while PhoneQuad stays aloft. The quad-rotor design pushes air down, lifting the PhoneQuad. Users let the case go and it hovers in a stable flight. PhoneQuad has multiple design and utility patents pending as well.
Meet the team
Farouk Khailann, CEO of Premium Africa Holdings and senior vice president of ezipay.africa, has taken on the role of Managing Partner at LeshTronix.
An entrepreneur with a strong commitment to Africa’s economic growth, Khailann serves as CEO of Premium Africa Holdings, an Africa-focused investment holding company with assets and projects in Ghana, Liberia, Gambia and Sierra Leone. The company operates in the areas of construction, agribusiness, financial technology, real estate, energy and investment consultancy.
“This new achievement is a further boost to my continuous call and advocacy for Africans to step up to the plate in driving the needed disruption in the global technology space,” Khailann said. “I am grateful to the founder of LeshTronix, Neil Lesher, for making this partnership possible.”
Arijit Bhattacharyya, founder and CEO of Indian game-dev and deep-tech company Virtualinfocom since 1998, will lead LeshTronix’s Executive Advisory Board. Bhattacharyya is a serial entrepreneur and jury member of National Startup Award (India), as well as a mentor and adviser to several incubators. He has helped thousands of startups to start their venture, serving as a mentor in more than 95 countries.
In addition, he offers 23 years of experience in technology, finance, art and SDG. Bhattacharyya is also the founder of World Leader Summit, one of the world’s largest leadership summits and international business club, with member networks in more than 95 countries. He is also the founder of Entrepreneursface, a group that empowers entrepreneurs to start up their business by helping them from the ideation stage to execution to fundraising and more.
“LeshTronix is not a concept, Bhattacharyya said. “It’s the future for people who want to be a part of disruption. Think of people who are not like us, who don’t have hands or can’t see for themselves, this hovercraft drone comes as a perfect solution. With the proprietary software solution, they can talk on the phone and it can follow them anywhere.”
“We are very fortunate to have Arijit plan, advise on and implement our core strategic objectives,” Lesher added.
A hovering selfie stick
Although not designed to function like a drone that flies around, PhoneQuad instead serves as a kind of hovering selfie stick compatible with any iPhone and Android smartphones. Using voice-recognition software, PhoneQuad will be designed to obey verbal commands using microphone-equipped earbuds via Bluetooth.
“I conceptualized the idea for PhoneQuad when my father developed arthritis and could no longer comfortably handle his iPhone,” Lesher said in a 2021 interview. “When my dad got frustrated, I thought about how amazing it would be if he could have a hands-free, hovering FaceTime call with my kids. And so, PhoneQuad was born and I then quickly realized the many use cases there could be.”
Lesher envisions a product that allows person with disabilities, families, friends and partygoers of all kinds the time to set up and stage the perfect picture, video or video conversation to create a new level of personal interaction.
“In my collection of family photos, I’m not in many pictures because I’m usually the person taking the pictures,” Lesher joked. “This will no longer be necessary with PhoneQuad. Users will be able to position PhoneQuad to the desired elevation or background and use voice commands to zoom, begin and stop videos or snap photos.
LeshTronix is working with the engineering team from xCraft.io to develop the hardware and software prototype. For now, Lesher and company are seeking seed funding to advance prototype development. Since the emergence of consumer/commercial drone tech over the past decade, VC investment in unmanned aerial systems is booming.
“We’ve seen major players like Amazon, Google and Intel invest heavily in drone tech,” Lesher said. “That level of investment has really gotten the VC community’s attention and I believe PhoneQuad is going to generate a lot of buzz that will translate into a robust funding round.”
“We are incredibly excited to be among the pioneers of the drone sector, changing the way the world views, uses and benefits from autonomous technology in many forms,” Lesher said. “PhoneQuad will allow the global smartphone user community to truly ‘Let Go’ of their phones for an awe-inspiring and literally hands-free conversation, picture and video experience.”
