Recorded views from each floor and street of a new tower, dated and plan-matched
TL;DR Sillsight films what a buyer of an under-construction flat will actually see: 360° views captured from each floor height, plus walks along the surrounding streets. Each view is dated and labelled against the sanctioned plan. Developers pay per project, because state regulators are cracking down on renders and claims that do not match what gets built.
Buyers of flats that do not yet exist decide from brochures, renders and a sample flat. When the delivered home does not match, they complain to RERA. Section 12 of the RERA Act lets a buyer who paid on the strength of an untrue advertisement or model flat withdraw with a refund, interest and compensation[1]. State regulators are going further. Tamil Nadu banned travel-time claims in ads in July 2025[2], and Goa barred disclaimers and vague amenity claims in August 2025[3]. So that glossy render in your brochure? It's now a legal risk.
What it does, in regulatory terms: marketing material that falls under RERA advertising rules. It shows recorded footage and the sanctioned plan, and it makes no claims about travel times, future roads or amenities. Each view carries the project's RERA registration number and the capture date.
A crew flies a drone up the site, or uses a mast for lower floors, and records a 360° view every few floors in each facing direction. A second pass walks the nearby streets at morning and evening peak. Buyers open the view for their exact floor and side on a phone, a laptop or a headset at the sales office. A layer marks what is already built, what the sanctioned plan shows, and what is not yet known.
The seed pitched VR simulations of future neighbourhoods, and I've reframed it. A simulated park or metro station is a promise, and under section 12 a buyer can hold the developer to it[1]. Recorded footage with clear labels is something a developer can stand behind.
The user is a buyer, often an NRI or someone in another city, choosing a floor and side. The payer is the developer's marketing team, which already spends on renders, sample flats and walk-through videos. My rough estimate is ₹2–6 L per project, priced by tower count and floors, and there's no public price list for comparable work in India.
State regulators tightened advertising rules in 2025, with Tamil Nadu requiring a QR code on every ad[2] and Goa ruling out disclaimers[3]. Drone rules eased in 2021 - flights in green zones up to 400 feet need no permission, and the paperwork fell from 25 forms to 5[4]. Phones and cheap headsets now play 360° video well.
There is no public figure for spending on property visualisation in India. The narrowest firm count is supply, since the national RERA portal shows 25,070 registered projects[5], each of which must advertise under these rules. Treat that number as an upper bound on reach, not a revenue figure.
A large property portal sells 3D, AR and VR services to developers through its own studio[6]. Global 3D-capture firms sell tours that work as round-the-clock open houses for listings[7]. Both mostly show finished interiors or computer renders. Many drone videographers shoot site flyovers. None that I found sells per-floor views tied to the sanctioned plan and dated for compliance.
| Difficulty | Moderate (44/100) |
| Starting capital | ₹45–90 L |
| Time to launch | 4–6 months |
The capture is straightforward. Matching views to the sanctioned plan and labelling them precisely needs care, and one wrong label creates the very risk you are selling against. Drone flights near airports fall in restricted zones, and many sites need permissions. Sales take relationship work with developers' marketing heads, which means a lot of chai and a lot of follow-ups.
Sillsight needs no RERA registration itself, but everything it makes counts as a developer's advertisement.
Building this outside India? The categories above usually have a local equivalent, so check with your own regulator.
Don't let AI write or approve compliance labels on its own. One wrong label creates the very legal risk Sillsight sells against, so a person signs off every one.
Want to work out the AI layer for Sillsight? Talk to Yash →
Here's what can go south -
I like this as a practical services business for a founder with drone or real estate marketing experience in one city. If you want to build a VR simulation engine then look elsewhere. Prove first that three developers will pay for a project and that their sales teams use the views in buyer meetings.
Plan for roughly ₹45–90 L over 4–6 months, mostly on drones, capture crews and the labelling team.
You need drone pilot certification and zone permissions, and your output must follow RERA advertising rules and state orders. Company registration and GST are the baseline.
Yes, wherever flats sell before they're built. Check local property advertising and drone rules before your first shoot.
The free Sillsight validation kit has the line-by-line capital breakdown, the effort scoring, the RERA and drone checklist, a 14-day validation sprint with pass/fail targets, a 90-day launch plan, 10 interview questions for developers and buyers, and 5 assumptions to test. Download the kit →
Thinking about building Sillsight or something close to it? The make-or-break work is convincing developers that honest views sell more flats than polished renders, and I can help you build that case. If you need a hand, you know where to find me. Talk to Yash →
For illustration only. Names are fictional and ideas hypothetical; sourced facts are real but may be out of date. Nothing here is legal, financial or professional advice, and Yash Khatri is not personally liable for any use of it. Read the full disclaimer.