Indian drone maker Raphe mPhibr secures $100M in Series B round
Raphe mPhibr has logged over 1 million km of flight and developed India’s first indigenous state-of-the-art military grade autopilot and lightweight internal combustion engine.
Indian drone maker Raphe mPhibr has raised USD 100 million in an all-equity Series B round led by General Catalyst, with participation from existing investors, including Amal Parikh, Think Investments, and other prominent high-net-worth family offices.
This is the largest round of private funding raised by an Indian company in this industry to date and takes Raphe mPhibr’s total capital raised to USD 145 million, the Noida-based startup said in a media release.
Raphe mPhibr currently offers nine different drones with payloads ranging from 4.4 pounds to 441 pounds, covering an average distance of between 12 and 124 miles, according to a report by TechCrunch.
“We are proud to join forces with Raphe mPhibr on their transformative journey to redefine engineering-led manufacturing across a spectrum of critical applications,” said Neeraj Arora, Managing Director at General Catalyst. “What sets this team apart is their unwavering, mission-driven ethos, coupled with an expansive vision and formidable technological depth. The products emerging from Raphe mPhibr are already making a tangible impact on the ground, signalling what we believe will be a monumental shift.”
“Raphe mPhibr is uniquely positioned to develop cutting-edge aircraft and UAVs given their robust, end-to-end design, engineering, and manufacturing capabilities,” said Shashin Shah, Managing Partner, Think Investments. “We are excited to deepen our partnership with the Raphe mPhibr team, and this investment underscores our conviction that it will emerge as one of the foremost aerospace companies in India.”
“Raphe mPhibr’s implementation of our 3DEXPERIENCE platform shows how virtual worlds help innovators achieve speed and sovereignty by accelerating the entire product lifecycle from concept to certification,” said Olivier Sappin, CEO, CATIA, Dassault Systèmes (France).
Conceptualised in 2016, the company has logged over 1 million kilometres of flight and developed India’s first indigenous state-of-the-art military grade autopilot and lightweight internal combustion engine. From metals to composites and electronics, Raphe mPhibr designs and builds everything under one roof, the company said.
“We have been silently working for around a decade to develop the capacity where we are able to not only do research on the system level, but also do research and manufacturing on a subsystem level, where in each and every part of the drone, be it the structures, be it composites, be it electronics, wire harnesses, or even software — are designed and manufactured here,” Raphe mPhibr Chief Executive Vivek Mishra told NDTV.
The company has over 10 customers, all of which are Indian government agencies, including the Indian Army, Navy, and Air Force, the TechCrunch report said.