Garuda Aerospace, a Chennai-based drone startup, has raised $22 million (around Rs 182 crore) in a Series A funding round led by early-stage venture capital company SphitiCap.

The round, which valued the startup at $250 million, also saw participation from other global investors, angel investors and high net-worth individuals (HNIs).

As per the startup, the raised funds will be utilized for research and development (R&D), expansion, product development and upskilling of drone pilots. 

Garuda Aerospace |  Low-cost Drone Solutions

Founded by Agnishwar Jayprakash in 2015, Garuda Aerospace claims to have a fleet of 400 drones and 500 pilots across 26 different cities across India. 

It focuses on the design, build and customization of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones for various applications such as event photography, agricultural survey, reconnaissance and surveillance.

Speaking about the development, Agnishwar Jayaprakash, Founder and CEO of Garuda Aerospace, said, 

“We aim to sell 25,000 drones in the next 18 months and are looking forward to exporting 10,000 drones to about 100 countries in the next 15 months.”

The Chennai-based drone startup counts Tata, Godrej, Adani, Reliance, Delhivery, L&T, Smart cities, Intel, Amazon, Wipro, Swiggy, Flipkart, IISC, MIT Boston, Survey of India, SAIL, NTPC, IOCL, NHAI amongst others as part of its client portfolio.

Commenting on the development, Pallav Kumar Singh, Managing Partner, SphitiCap, said, 

“Garuda Aerospace has built various types of drones. Given the evolving preferences and horizontal expansion with the usage of drones in several sectors, there is a vision of growth for both companies.” 

In 2022, the startup raised $5 million in funding from a large infra-development company, a group of HNI and angel investors from India, Singapore and the UAE. Mahendra Singh Dhoni is an investor in the startup and also its brand ambassador. Last year, he launched a drone named Droni, manufactured by Garuda Aerospace.

Driven by favourable government policies and increasing use cases, the drone industry in India has seen a recorded jump in fundraising in 2022. A few days back, ideaForge, a drone maker, filed its papers with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for public listing. 

Last year, Pune-based drone startup Droneacharya Aerial Innovations Limited got listed in the Indian share market.

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