EyeROV Seeks To Capitalise On Marine Robotics And AI With Funding From Unicorn India Ventures

Marine robotics deeptech startup EyeROV has secured INR 10 Cr (around $1.2 Mn) in a Pre-Series A funding round led by Unicorn India Ventures. 

The company plans to use the fresh capital for global expansion and building products to augment its current offerings. 

Founded in 2016 by Johns T Mathai and Palaniappan P, EyeROV is a deeptech startup around marine robotics and AI. Its product offerings include commercial underwater drones and unmanned surface vehicles (USV) designed to perform visual underwater ship hull inspections, dam inspections, and search and rescue operations. 

It counts Tata, Adani, BPCL, DRDO and the Indian Coast Guard, among its clients.

 “With this funding, EyeROV will be able to scale up its sales, R&D, and operations much faster. We have developed unique, differentiated solutions for underwater infrastructure inspections that have been successfully validated in the Indian market and are now ready for global expansion,” Mathai added.

“Marine robotics is a highly complex subject and developing a drone to inspect underwater infrastructure requires unmanned tech built with precision. Unicorn India has the strong DNA of a deep tech investor as we understand the tech both hardware and software aspect. We believe EyeROV’s products and solutions have a global application.” Unicorn India Ventures’s Managing Partner Anil Joshi said. 

This comes at the heart of investors prioritising deeptech startups. As per Inc42 data, India was home to more than 400 deeptech startups in 2023, a jump of 4X from 100 in 2014.

Last year, deeptech startups raised $496 Mn compared to $397 Mn in 2022, as per Inc42’s “Indian Tech Startup Funding Report 2023”.

Overall, between 2014 and 2023, homegrown deeptech startups raised over $1.5 Bn in funding across 343+ deals.

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