Dronetech Startup EndureAir Raises INR 25 Cr From IAN Alpha Fund

IIT Kanpur-incubated dronetech startup EndureAir Systems has raised INR 25 Cr from IAN Alpha Fund, along with IAN Angel Fund.

The startup, in a statement, said it will use the capital to expand into enterprise markets and advance the development of next-generation high-altitude logistics and aerial robotics platforms.

Founded in 2018 by IIT Kanpur’s professor of aerospace engineering Abhishek and his former students Rama Krishna and Chirag Jain, EndureAir’s drones are used for defence as well as for other purposes like surveillance, disaster management, and logistics.

According to its LinkedIn profile, the company works across the entire spectrum of UAS research and development, including novel airframes, autopilots, communication frameworks, monitoring stations, cooperative control, and computer vision algorithms.

It claims to develop both hardware and software entirely in-house. EndureAir has a total of nine patents in vertical take-off and landing technology.

The startup is also co-developing high-altitude logistics drones with Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and working with Bhutan’s Druk Holding & Investments Group (DHI) on pilot logistics missions to remote monasteries.

The startup said that its drones under the name Sabal, which can carry up to 20 kg payloads, have been inducted by the Indian Army’s Eastern Command, while its long-endurance UAV Vibhram was used in Telangana’s ‘Medicine from the Sky’ programme to deliver vaccines to remote areas.

EndureAir competes with the likes of ideaForge, Paras, IG Drones, Asteria Aerospace, Aero360, Redwing, General Aeronautics, The ePlane Co, among others.

Notably, IAN Alpha Fund, a INR 1,000 Cr ($125 Mn) Category II AIF VC fund, is the second fund of the IAN Group. It invests in diverse sectors such as healthtech, cleantech, deeptech, agritech, medtech, hardware and electronics, manufacturing, Web 3.0, Metaverse, Industry 4.0, SaaS, and more.

The funding comes at a time when drone adoption is rapidly picking up in the country on the back of easing of rules and availability of multiple options due to the success of the Centre’s PLI scheme to promote drone manufacturing in the country.

The Union government is also mulling launching another INR 2,000 Cr ($234 Mn) incentive programme to boost manufacturing of drones and their components in the country.

As a result, investors are lining up to back dronetech startups. Earlier this year, drone startup Raphe mPhibr raised $100 Mn (around INR 857 Cr) in a funding round led by General Catalyst at a valuation of $900 Mn.

Driving these investments is the country’s dronetech market, which is expected to become a $13 Bn opportunity by 2030.