Chennai-based electric air taxi startup The ePlane Co is looking to raise another $30-50 million as it prepares to manufacture three prototypes by 2026 and set the stage for its first launch.
The startup has been conservative in tapping investors so far, securing $20 million since it was founded in 2019. That includes the $14 million it raised in November from venture capital firm Speciale Invest and others.
ePlane’s proposed series C funding round will likely be followed by another fundraise next year, founder and chief executive Satyanarayan Chakravarthy said, without disclosing a potential valuation.
“We are open to receiving up to $100 million in our next funding round if investors align with our vision and targets,” Chakravarthy told Mint.
“This is a capital-intensive field since it involves the manufacturing of the air taxis themselves, and the next two funding rounds will be key as we commence commercial, revenue-generating operations by end-2026 or early 2027.”
The startup incubated at Chennai’s Indian Institute of Technology-Madras was the first to propose a domestically built air taxi. The ministry of civil aviation’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued three sets of rules on aircraft standards, landing ports and pilot training for air taxis—with maintenance and air traffic regulations still pending.
Last month, DGCA also identified five sites for ‘sandboxes’, or on-ground areas for controlled testing, of air taxis in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. Trial flights of air taxis, in which The ePlane Co aims to participate, will begin by the end of this year, Chakravarthy said, followed by more elaborate trials next year.
‘Satya’, as Chakravarthy is popularly called by his peers, has a PhD in aerospace engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in the US. Following a further postdoctoral stint there, he joined IIT-Madras as a professor in 1997.
Towards the end of 2020, Chakravarthy moved away from teaching to focus on the startup—but resumed teaching at a limited scale in August last year.
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A global takeoff
The ePlane Co is now looking to scale up. Last week, The startup recently signed a non-binding agreement with the International Critical-care Air Transfer Team (ICATT) to supply 788 air ambulances in a deal valued tentatively at $1 billion. On Tuesday, the startup announced an expansion into three global markets—the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia and Thailand.
Chakravarthy said the company was also speaking with the civil aviation authorities of Malaysia and Singapore for regulatory clarity and market expansion.
“The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in Indonesia is looking at us acquiring a certification of operation from India’s DGCA and replicate similar rules to operate there. We’re now in conversation with Malaysia for the same, which will increase the scope of our business. But our first launch will be from India itself,” Chakravarthy said.
Air taxis, to be sure, have been floated as an idea for quite some time now. Eight years ago, Dutch company Pal-V International BV showcased the world’s first commercial ‘flying car’ that was ready for production. The same year, mobility firm Uber Inc. and the US’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) signed a ‘Space Act’ to develop an unmanned aerial traffic management system for air taxis.
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Multilateral thinktank World Economic Forum’s ‘Aviate’ programme published a report on 13 November stating that in 2023 Bengaluru alone lost $2.3 billion in economic value due to metropolitan congestion—something autonomous air mobility could mitigate.
India’s DGCA has moved to enable a legal framework for air taxis, including certifying approved air taxi operators.
“The DGCA is exploring a certification basis with us at the moment. Once we establish this certification basis, we’ll take the same information to other aviation bodies across the world to show them our standards, and there is a significant amount of government-to-government understanding in this field,” Chakravarthy added. “Given these complications, by the end of 2027, we can expect operations to commence commercially in other parts of the world too.”
Unclogging urban congestion
While the domestic air taxi market doesn’t have many players yet, Bengaluru-based Sarla Aviation is a key competitor for The ePlane Co.
In November, Sarla raised $10 million in series-A funding from venture capital firm Accel. Earlier, in April last year, UK-based Archer Aviation signed a deal with airline IndiGo’s promoter, Interglobe Aviation, to supply 300 air taxis for city-to-airport commute.
Vishesh Rajaram, managing partner at Speciale Invest, one of the investors in The ePlane Co, told Mint the venture capital firm “has already led three rounds of investments in The ePlane Co, and would likely be a part of future rounds too”.
“This is a field with great prospects. The DGCA is real about the prospect of electric air taxis, and if we really want to unclog India’s transportation problem, this door has to be opened,” Rajaram said.
“As soon as transportation opens up, trade flourishes—we’ve seen that with the finding of oil and the advent of faster transportation years ago. Metro railway transportation, though efficient, is not the fastest way to travel, and air taxis are the likely answer to the question of urban congestion.”
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