Indian drone startup Garuda Aerospace raised $22 million in Series A

Indian drone startup Garuda Aerospace has raised $22 million in a Series A funding round led by venture capital firm SphitiCap, which invested $12 million in the round, with participation from a group of HNIs and angel investors from India, UAE and Singapore.

This comes after the company last raised funding of about $1 million in 2021. This new round sets Garuda Aerospace at a $250-million valuation, its founder and CEO Agnishwar Jayaprakash told Economic Times in an interview.

Founded in 2015 by Agnishwar Jayaprakash, Garuda Aerospace manufactures and sells drones and offers ‘drone-as-a-service’. Besides India, it currently does business in Malaysia, Singapore, the United States, Panama, and the United Arab Emirates, Jayaprakash said.

Garuda currently works with a fleet of 400 drones and more than 500 pilots in 26 Indian cities. The Aerospace startup aims to sell 25,000 drones in the next 18 months and is looking forward to exporting 10,000 drones to about 100 countries in the next 15 months.

The company says it will use the funds to scale up the research and development for building advanced drone solutions for the armed forces in collaboration with global companies for the defence and aerospace sectors.

Apart from this, a section of funding will also be used for training drone pilots and helping to create employment by deepening its footprints in Tier II and III cities.