BENGALURU/NEW DELHI: Shreepoorna S Rao, the 23-year-old founder of Bengaluru-based aerospace startup Arctus Aerospace, has announced that the company has raised $2.6 million in a pre-seed funding round, marking one of the largest early-stage raises in India’s deep-tech aerospace sector this year.
The round was led by Version One Ventures and South Park Commons, with additional participation from GradCapital and several well-known angel investors, including Balaji S, Vivekanand Ahar, and Raymond Opolis.
Announcing the fundraising on X (formerly Twitter), Rao wrote:
“Excited to announce that Arctus Aerospace has raised $2.6 million pre-seed… among other awesome folks!”
Rao, an IIT Madras Class of 2024 alumnus, is building high-endurance unmanned aircraft designed to transform earth observation and commercial aerial data systems. Arctus is developing aircraft capable of carrying 250 kg payloads, flying at 45,000 feet, and operating for over 24 hours – technology that could dramatically reduce the dependency on cost-heavy satellite-based imaging.
Excited to announce that @arctusaerospace has raised $2.6 million pre-seed round, led by @VersionOneVC and @southpkcommons with follow on from @gradcapital and awesome angels like @balajis @snsf @vivekanandahr @raymondopolis among other awesome folks! pic.twitter.com/X2NJMv3yDv
— Shreepoorna S Rao (@shreepoorna365) November 27, 2025
Explaining the mission, Rao wrote:
“We are building unmanned aircrafts pushing the envelope on what we can do in aerospace.”
“Earth observation needs a revamp… Just because it’s cheaper to put satellites doesn’t mean it’s the best way to do commercial earth observation. And we are building exactly for that.”
Over the last six months, Arctus Aerospace has rapidly scaled operations. Rao revealed that the company now has a team of 10 engineers and has already logged 50+ flight hours, mapping over 1,000 square kilometers using real-time high-precision aerial data.
“We are bringing in centimeter-level precision and real-time data using our aircrafts. And we are building fast,” he wrote.
Rao credited the investor community and peers for backing an ambitious hardware-first startup in India, saying:
“We are moving insanely fast, doing hardware at software speeds, and to obsess over the product like a F1 team.”
The young founder also thanked startup networks including South Park Commons and GradCapital, calling them “the best cheerleaders ever.”
Arctus now aims to accelerate manufacturing and expand into new commercial applications such as agriculture data, urban planning, climate monitoring and disaster-response imaging.
