Garuda Aerospace Bags $11 Mn In Series B Round

MS Dhoni-Backed Garuda Aerospace Nets INR 100 Cr To Boost R&D Efforts

SUMMARY

The latest funding is part of Garuda Aerospace's Series B round with a post-money valuation of $250 Mn

The Chennai-based startup will deploy the fresh funds to fuel its R&D efforts and scale up production facilities

Founded in 2015, the startup provides multipurpose dronetech solutions for defence, agriculture, security and surveillance and transportation and logistics

Chennai-based dronetech startup Garuda Aerospace has secured INR 100 Cr (about $11 Mn) in a Series B funding round led by Venture Catalysts, along with a host of other undisclosed investors.

The startup claims to have raised the funding at a post-money valuation of $250 Mn. It seems that the startup has raised the new round at a flat valuation since it was valued the same back in 2023 as well.

Back then, the startup also claimed that it has plans to go for an initial public offering (IPO) by the end of 2024, but there has been no update on this development so far.

Garuda Aerospace plans to use the fresh capital to further scale up its production facilities and to fuel its research and development strategy.

Founded in 2015 by Agnishwar Jayaprakash and Rithika Mohann, Garuda Aeropace is a drone manufacturer that provides multipurpose dronetech solutions for defence, agriculture, security and surveillance and transportation and logistics.

The startup also provides drones-as-a-service solutions and also claims to have trained over 1 Lakh students as drone pilots. Prior to the current round, the startup has raised more than $30 Mn in total since its inceptions.

“As we prepare for a global growth expansion journey, this investment reinforces our commitment to building world-class, indigenous drone technologies that contribute to India’s economic progress, self-reliance in defense, and technological leadership on the global stage,” said Jayaprakash.

The development comes almost six months after MS Dhoni backed the startup in an undisclosed deal.

The startup has plans to bolster its presence in the overseas market. It has allocated $10 Mn for its expansion activity and plans to enter 50 countries in the next few years.

India is home to more than 200 dronetech startups and Garuda is competing with some heavily funded startups such as Dums, listed major IdeaForge, DroneAcharya and Newspace among others. According to Inc42’s Indian Drone Tech Startup Landscape & Market Opportunity Report 2024, the drone tech industry will become a $13 Bn opportunity by 2030. Since 2014, Indian dronetech startups have raised close to $140 Mn in total.

The report also says that many dronetech startups face difficulties in securing funds as the industry is in its infancy in India. This has further led to a situation where funds are available to only a handful of startups operating in the space.

But on a brighter side, the Centre is now batting for the growth of deeptech startups in the country. Recently the government said that a major portion of the INR 10K Cr Fund of Funds announced in this year’s national budget will be allocated to fund startups in the deeptech space.