Analytics Platform SenseHawk Bags $5.1 Mn, Set To Expand Presence In Abu Dhabi

San Francisco, Mumbai and Bengaluru-based cloud-based enterprise platform SenseHawk has raised $5.1 Mn in Series A1 funding round led by Falcon Edge Capital-managed $300 Mn venture fund Alpha Wave Incubation (AWI), which is backed by Abu Dhabi-based ADQ. Existing investor SAIF Partners also participated in the round.

SenseHawk will use this funding to expand its presence in Abu Dhabi, and also build a team of data scientists, product managers and engineers in the region. The company is looking to use Abu Dhabi as the global base for international expansion while targeting the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries — the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and other global markets.

Founded in 2016 by Rahul Sankhe and Swarup Mavanoor, SenseHawk enables owners, managers and developers of solar assets to gain new insights about their plants that enable maximisation of returns. The initial focus of the company is on the rapidly growing Solar Industry with future expansion to other similar sectors.

Its solutions combine different kinds of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), sensors, data processing and planning chains to create decision-making tools that drive productivity in the energy and infrastructure industries. The company claims that it has delivered data analytics for more than 28 GWs of solar assets across 15 countries worldwide, and has nearly 80 clients.

Commenting on the investment, SenseHawk’s Mavanoor said, “The investment through Alpha Wave Incubation provides strategic access to the MENA [Middle East and North Africa] market in addition to powering the ongoing development of our software platform. The follow-on investment by SAIF Partners is a validation of our direction and reaffirms their commitment to be a long-term partner to the startups they invest in.”

He added that solar construction is on a fast trajectory for the company, and the latest funding enables it to continue to support designers, builders and operators of this critical form of renewable energy. Prior to this, the company had raised $2 Mn in Series A funding, in 2018, from SAIF Partners and other angel investors. The company was looking to use that funding for business development, engineering and expansion of business outside India, US and Australia.

According to Inc42 Plus estimates, Indian enterprise tech startups had raised $1.15 Bn across 114 deals in 2019, which represented a 49% surge in funding amounts. However, the deal count had plunged by 10% when compared with 2018. In the first half of 2020, enterprise tech is one of the most popular segments in the eyes of the investors as companies are looking to revamp their work culture with work-from-home becoming the new norm during the pandemic.

In the first half of 2020, the total capital inflow witnessed a decline of 29% compared to H2 2019 clubbed with all three major stages of funding growth stage, late-stage and seed-stage witnessing a negative growth of -52%, -21% and -3% respectively.

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