Deep-tech startup Arctus Aerospace on Wednesday said it has raised $2.6 million in a pre-seed round from Version One Ventures, South Park Commons, gradCapital, and some angel investors, including Balaji Srinivasan, Srinivas Narayan, early Ather engineers, and leaders from Bounce Infinity and Boom Supersonic.
The aerospace company is building large, unmanned aircraft capable of flying at 45,000 feet for up to 24 hours. It said the funding will accelerate its efforts to establish one of the deepest full-stack unmanned aircraft manufacturing and engineering capabilities, built entirely in-house. The aircraft can carry a 250-kilogram payload for real-time geospatial intelligence. The company builds its aircraft, manufacturing and testing operations from its facility in Bangalore.
The company noted that the high-altitude Earth observation industry has been limited by expensive satellites with slow revisit rates, and the defence high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) aircraft are priced far beyond commercial reach. It added that this leads to a gap as industries need frequent, high-resolution, on-demand data, but existing systems are either largely expensive or operationally rigid.
How does Arctus aim to disrupt high-altitude Earth observation?
“Arctus addresses this gap by enabling high-altitude intelligence at $100/hour, making strategic-grade sensing commercially viable for the first time. Imagery that typically costs $10,000 for 500 square kilometres can now be delivered for approximately $500, opening access to real-time, high-resolution intelligence across energy, infrastructure, climate and security applications,” it said in a statement.
What is the company’s long-term vision for Earth intelligence?
“Our mission is to eliminate all ground infrastructure required to monitor, inspect or understand the planet on centimetre-level resolution. By flying large unmanned aircraft at high altitudes for long durations, we are building the foundation for true zero-infrastructure Earth intelligence,” said Shreepoorna S Rao, founder and chief executive officer of Arctus Aerospace.
