Indian drone start-up Garuda Aerospace raises $22m
Recently established Indian VC firm SphitiCap has led a USD 22m Series A round for Garuda Aerospace, a local industrial drone maker and related services provider.
SphitiCap, which launched its debut fund last October with a target of 500m, put in USD 12m. The balance was provided by undisclosed investors, including angels and some overseas investors.
The deal reportedly values Garuda at USD 250m. On the occasion of a carbon-neutral drone demonstration at the World Economic Forum in Davos last month, the company claimed to be the most valuable drone start-up in India.
Canada’s Ocgrow Ventures joined a seed round of undisclosed size in May last year. UK-based Silverstone Capital is said to also be an early investor.
Founded in 2015, Garuda designs and manufactures about 30 types of drones for use cases such as agriculture surveying, event photography, reconnaissance, surveillance, disaster management, and infrastructure inspection, including solar panel cleaning. It has deployed drones to deliver medicines during COVID-19 and, most recently, as part of earthquake rescue efforts in Turkey.
A significant minority of revenue is generated from about 50 drone-related services. A fleet of more than 400 drones, operated by some 500 pilots, services clients such as Tata Group, Adani Group, Reliance Industries, Swiggy, Flipkart, and Delhivery across more than 80 cities. Beyond India, this includes Singapore, Malaysia, the US, the United Arab Emirates, and Panama.
The Series A capital will be used in part to expand the business into the defence sector, as well as to train more pilots in tier-two and tier-three cities. SphitiCap has identified business development in India’s lower-tier cities as core to its investment thesis, and drone deliveries are seen as a potential access solution for regional consumer markets.
Revenue is said to be on track to rise from INR 153.1m (USD 1.8m) in the 2022 financial year to INR 400m (USD 4.8m) in 2023. CEO Agnishwar Jayaprakash told The Economic Times he expected revenue to reach as much as INR 10bn in 2024 as global exports ramp up. At that point, the company plans to start an IPO process.
More on South Asia
Latest News
Asian GPs slow implementation of ESG policies - survey
Asia-based private equity firms are assigning more dedicated resources to environment, social, and governance (ESG) programmes, but policy changes have slowed in the past 12 months, in part due to concerns raised internally and by LPs, according to a...
Singapore fintech start-up LXA gets $10m seed round
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has led a USD 10m seed round for Singapore’s LXA, a financial technology start-up launched by a former Asia senior executive at The Blackstone Group.
India's InCred announces $60m round, claims unicorn status
Indian non-bank lender InCred Financial Services said it has received INR 5bn (USD 60m) at a valuation of at least USD 1bn from unnamed investors including “a global private equity fund.”
Insight leads $50m round for Australia's Roller
Insight Partners has led a USD 50m round for Australia’s Roller, a venue management software provider specializing in family fun parks.