Team Startupcity

• Bengaluru-based defence tech startup Unmannd raises $2 million pre-seed round led by Speciale Invest and Accel
• Startup’s autonomous drones Titan (logistics) and Fury (interceptor) aim to modernize India’s defence capabilities
• Funding to accelerate commercialization, expand engineering team, and explore exports to foreign markets

Unmannd, a defence technology startup that makes autonomous drones, has raised $2 million in a pre-seed round led by Speciale Invest and Accel. The startup has two primary systems Titan, a supply-carrying drone, and Fury, a defence system capable of detecting and neutralizing hostile drones.

"The funding will enable us to speed up the commercialisation of our aerial logistics platform Titan, advance our interceptor system, Fury, from proof of concept (PoC) to market, and start looking for exports to foreign markets", Yeshwanth Reddy, cofounder and CEO at Unmannd, said.

The capital will also be utilized to expand its engineering team. Established in February this year by Hemaditya Prasad and Yeshwanth Reddy, the Bengaluru-based startup is eligible to provide drones to Indian defence forces "We've already completed developing Titan, and now it is certified by Indian defence forces to provide drones. We are in consideration for a couple of orders from the Indian defence forces shortly", Reddy said.

Also Read: SpaceFields Raises $5 Million to Boost India's Defence and Aerospace

"The defense sector is experiencing its biggest shift in decades. What we are witnessing is moving towards systems that can learn, adapt, and make decisions autonomously capabilities that will characterize the next generation of defense technology", said Prashanth Prakash, a partner at Accel.

Describing how Fury operates, Reddy said the system can pick up enemy drones as far as 30 kilometres away and release small interceptor drones that fly at 300 km per hour.

In recent times, drone startups have been witnessing growing investor interest. In June this year, Raphe mPhibr, a defense startup, raised $100 million in a General Catalyst-led round that valued the drone manufacturer at $900 million.

Titan Capital, a seed-stage venture capital company, made the announcement of introducing a dedicated investment vertical to support startups that are innovating in India's defence and strategic tech space, according to a report.