Bengaluru: Sanlayan Technologies, the aerospace and defence startup, has raised ₹186 Crores in its latest round of Series A funding. The highly oversubscribed round was led by marquee investors Ashish Kacholia, Lashit Sanghvi and Jungle Ventures, with participation from existing investors Gemba Capital, Singularity Ventures, and new investor Shastra VC.
Previously, Sanlayan raised ₹36 crores in March 2024 in a transaction led by Singapore-headquartered Jungle Ventures via its First Cheque@Jungle platform. They acquired a majority stake in Dexcel Electronics, an ESDM firm with a 25-year legacy, that has contributed to marquee programs including Jaguar, Sukhoi, LCA Tejas and Chandrayaan-3. Sanlayan is also developing AESA Radar for India’s unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) program, with its in-house R&D capabilities. They have formed partnerships with five Indian startups and foreign OEMs for joint development of cutting-edge solutions.
“Sanlayan’s ability to execute at both operational and strategic levels has been outstanding. The revenue ramp-up at Dexcel, combined with strategic capital and Sanlayan’s operating discipline, reinforces our confidence in their ability to scale sustainably across the defence electronics value chain,” said Rishab Malik, Partner at Jungle Ventures.
The Bengaluru-based startup, has a unique, three-pronged approach for capability development: acquiring and building upon established Indian defence MSMEs; developing in-house technologies; and forging global alliances. With fresh access to capital, the startup is positioned to double down on this approach and contribute towards programs of national strategic importance.
“What drew us to Sanlayan was their clear understanding of India’s defence electronics landscape, and their hybrid strategy to solve it. This is not just a business opportunity; it’s a national imperative. We’re proud to back a team that’s accelerating indigenous capability and contributing meaningfully to India’s national security.” said Ashish Kacholia.
Sanlayan plans to increase its engineering headcount fivefold in the next six months. The startup is actively hiring domain experts, R&D scientists, retired armed forces veterans, and senior leadership from both public sector undertakings and private defence giants.
“India’s defence sector is at a once-in-a-generation inflection point. We will continue to acquire capabilities both organically and inorganically. We are allocating capital for suo-moto development of critical technologies for CUAS and EW systems. In the last six months, we have strengthened Dexcel’s design and manufacturing capabilities and are now gearing up to execute large-scale indigenisation and upgrade programs,” said Rohan Gala, Co-founder & CEO of Sanlayan.
Headquartered in Bengaluru, Sanlayan Technologies (www.sanlayan.com) was started in September 2023 by IIT and IIM alumni, Abhijit Kothawale, Rohan Gala, and Rahul Vamsidhar. The company blends startup agility with deep defence and advanced electronic systems expertise, including radar, electronic warfare, and mission-critical avionics. The founding team brings leadership experience from L&T, Tata Advanced, Mahindra, ITC, Ola, RBS Bank and Zetwerk.
