IIT Kanpur-incubated drone startup EndureAir Systems raises $1.7 million

EndureAir Systems, an IIT Kanpur-incubated unmanned aviation technology startup, said that it has raised Rs 13.5 crore or around $1.68 million in seed funding.

The round was led by Jalaj Dani, co-promoter of Asian Paints. The round also saw participation from the founders of robotics and automation company Addverb Technologies.

Commenting on the fundraising, Abhishek (who goes by only one name), founder and director, EndureAir, said, "The investment would be used to expand our product line-up to meet the demand for heavier payload capacity UAVs.”

The company was founded in 2019, by Abhishek and professor Mangal Kothari, both professors at IIT Kanpur along with their students, Rama Krishna and Chirag Jain, with focus on high-tech dynamic aerial robotic solutions backed by extensive research.

It provides solutions in border surveillance, logistics and medicine delivery, aerial mapping, crowd monitoring, providing situational awareness and so on. The drones produced by EndureAir can be further customized based on the end user requirement.

"This funding round will give an impetus to EndureAir’s momentum by scaling up its operations and innovating further by pushing the capabilities of the current designs,” added Rama Krishna, co-founder and CEO, EndureAir.

Over the years, EndureAir has provided service to agencies such as Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), UP Police, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)

The company also provides its services to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Zen Technologies Ltd., Delhivery, amongst others. Recently, EndureAir as shortlisted by the Ministry of Civil Aviation under the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for promoting the manufacturing of drones and its components in the country