[Chennai, 8th April 2024] – Planys Technologies, an IIT Madras Incubation Cell deep tech startup pioneering in underwater infrastructure testing, has secured a ₹43 crore equity infusion led by renowned investor Ashish Kacholia. The funding round also saw participation from Samarthya Advisors, Golden Birch Investments, Cogniphy Angel Fund, Krishna Defence, and Impact India Investment Partners LLC, alongside enthusiastic backing from existing investors doubling and tripling down on their support. It also saw exits from many first-round seed investors.

This strategic investment is expected to accelerate Planys’ mission to revolutionize infrastructure inspections through advancements in marine robotics, underwater testing, and digital analytics and reporting platforms.

Founded in 2015 by IIT Madras alumni and faculty including Tanuj Jhunjhunwala, Vineet Upadhyay, Prof Prabhu Rajagopal, and Prof. Krishnan Balasubramanian, Planys sprouted as a spin-out from the Centre for Non-Destructive Evaluation (CNDE), IITM. In just a couple of years since its inception, Planys was incubated at IIT Madras Incubation Cell (IITM IC) and officially incorporated in June 2015. With limited resources in its first year, Planys raised ₹1.75 crore through angel investment and developed multiple products.

Despite heading into an uncharted domain, today Planys pioneers India’s marine robotic economy. With infrastructure ageing globally, regular inspections to prevent failures are critical. Planys utilizes proprietary underwater drone technology to collect visual and sensor-based testing data for steel and concrete structures. Leveraging AI, this data is transformed into standardized, insightful information accessible through a next-gen digital platform.

Going ahead, through collaborations, Planys aims for expansion into global markets and diversification into oceanographic and defence use cases. Planys’ Chief Technology Officer, Vineet says, “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, specialized inspection robotics for the process and hydrocarbon industry, real-time monitoring applications, and advanced digital reporting solutions.”

Ashish Kacholia remarked, “Planys addresses a large market of underwater asset maintenance with its unique technology that pinpoints defects with high precision, benefiting various high-value assets like dams, bridges, and refineries to extend their asset life with timely maintenance. It is a large, underserved market and will grow thanks to companies like Planys. Planys is a classic case of research in academia getting commercialized for civilian and defence applications. I am confident that Tanuj and his Co-founders will blaze an underwater trail that will inspire many more young founders to build out deep tech companies and serve the country and indeed the global markets as well.”

Planys has garnered trust from industry leaders such as Reliance Industries, IOCL, BPCL, Dedicated Freight Corridor, and Indian Railways. Their technology has already been deployed at more than 400+ structures. Internationally, collaborations in the Netherlands and with petrochemical players in the Middle East and Southeast Asia show promising growth prospects. The defence sector is an exciting frontier for Planys to showcase its expertise in supplying indigenously designed and manufactured unmanned underwater Remote Operated Vehicles (ROVs) and Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) for safeguarding India’s maritime borders. It is to be noted that Planys is also a proud winner of two IDEX challenges from the Defence Innovation Organization, Ministry of Defence.

Jatin Karani and Karan Goshar, both partners of Samarthya Investment Advisors, are excited to support Planys in their scale-up journey. Jatin says, “We believe the entire Planys team is the best in India when it comes to engineering capabilities in the underwater robotics domain for inspection and defence applications.”

Find the links to the featured publications below:
The Hindu | Times of India | Inc42 | StartupStory | CNBCTV 18 | Outlook India |