April 10, 2024: Underwater Visual Inspections Services startup Planys Technologies has secured Rs 43 crore in equity investment from Hungama Digital Media Entertainment Pvt Ltd Co-founder Ashish Kacholia. The fresh capital will be invested to augment its infrastructure inspection process by deploying tech such as marine robotics, underwater testing, and digital analytics.
The company offers underwater drone technologies to collect visual and sensor-based testing data to inspect infrastructure, particularly steel and concrete structures such as dams, bridges, and refineries. Planys customers encompass Reliance Industries, IOCL, BPCL, and Indian Railways, and its tech has been implemented to survey over 400 structures, the company stated.
“We intend to grow our operational capacity and enhance the inventory of underwater inspection solutions, covering high-end applications such as non-destructive testing of metal and concrete structures, specialised inspection robotics for the process and hydrocarbon industry, real-time monitoring applications, and advanced digital reporting solutions,” said Vineet Upadhyay, Chief Technology Officer, Planys, who founded the company along with Tanuj Jhunjhunwala, and IIT Madras faculty, Prabhu Rajagopal and Krishnan Balasubramanian.
Planys Offers Underwater inspection & survey solutions using indigenously made submersible robotic vehicles ROVs
The startup was spun off from IIT Madras’ Centre for Non-destructive Evaluation (CNDE) and was incorporated in June 2015. VCs and the Indian government, alike, have been doubling down on the deeptech sector in India. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her interim Budget speech, said the Ministry will launch a new scheme to strengthen deep tech to expedite ‘Atmanirbharta’ and defence purposes.
The Budget outlined a corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore with a 50-year interest-free loan to encourage research and innovation by deeptech startups.
Samarthya Investment Advisors, Golden Birch Investments, Krishna Defence, Cogniphy Angel Fund, and other investors also participated in the round, the startup said in a statement.
