Garuda Aerospace Raised $22 Mn Series A Funding Ahead of Aero Show 2023

Drone manufacturer and the market leader in the Agri drone and industry 4.0 services segment, Garuda Aerospace creates history by raising $22 Million, the largest ever Series A funding in the drone sector. The round was led by Venture Capital firm SphitiCap which invested $12 Million along with participation from other global investors, angel investors and HNIs at $5 Million. Garuda Aerospace is widely considered the most valuable Indian drone startup across the nation. Another $5 million in funding from an infra-development company, a group of HNI and angel investors from India, UAE and Singapore was secured by startup earlier.

While Garuda Aerospace continues to strengthen its existing offering, the acquired funds will be utilized to scale up and expand the company’s operation. A part of the funds will be used for R&D thus accelerating the development of building advanced drone solutions for the armed forces in collaboration with global companies for the defence and aerospace sector. The funds will also be used for the skilling and training of drone pilots and help create employment with deepening its footprints in Tier II and III cities. Garuda drones will further be enhanced with payload capacities, endurance, quality of sensors and data embedding with more technology solutions. Currently operating in PAN India, Garuda Aerospace aims to achieve significant dominance in rural areas which will help manufacture drones that will bring fast delivery, reduce cost and improve accessibility.

Speaking on the funding Agnishwar Jayaprakash, Founder and CEO, Garuda Aerospace said "Garuda Aerospace is on the path to becoming the 1st ever Drone Unicorn Startup in India with receiving great validation from the Venture Capital firms and Investment communities. Garuda Aerospace 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. After my experience at Davos 2023, it was clear that Garuda Aerospace has the potential to scale globally, by manufacturing more Make in India drones and will help India to become the drone hub of the world by 2030."

“After Prime Minister Narendra Modi Ji flagged off our Drone Yatra by launching 100 Garuda Kisan Drones in 100 villages last year and Mahendra Singh Dhoni joined as a Brand Ambassador and Shareholder, we have seen Garuda focusing on unit economics, profitability and sustainability. Our business model is asset light, tech driven, market agnostic and recession proof. The reason why Garuda is growing so fast is that our smart drones are disrupting Multi-billion dollar sectors such as agriculture, mapping, infrastructure, Industry 4.0, defence, mining and project inspections not just in India but across the world." Agnishwar concluded.

Pallav Kumar Singh, Managing Partner, SphitiCap said, “I’m extremely thrilled and excited to be a part of Garuda Aerospace’s growth story. Garuda Aerospace has built various types of drones with an interesting segment and their developments in the drone sector are one to watch out for. Given the evolving preferences and horizontal expansion with the usage of drones in several sectors, there is a vision of promising growth beneficial for both companies. With this, drones will be playing a major in nearly every sector in the future.”

Garuda Aerospace boasts a fleet of 400 drones and a well-trained team of over 500 pilots across 26 different cities across India. Former Indian cricket team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has invested and is also the Brand Ambassador of the company. Garuda Aerospace DGCA approved (Type certification and RPTO) Made in India Drones are disrupting several multi-billion dollar sectors like Agri, Infra, Industry 4.0 and Defence. Garuda's growth plan is to become India's 1st ever Drone Unicorn Startup by impacting 1 billion lives.