The era of flying cars is approaching soon and perhaps in another decade or so would be fully out for public purchase. No longer will they remain a thing from futuristic sci-fi movies, something that could never really happen in real life.
Over the past few years, the flying car concept has been taking on speed unlike ever seen before, and perhaps India’s first flying taxi startup’s latest news is indicative of the state it is on right now.
As per reports, The ePlane Company, one of India’s first flying taxi companies, has managed to raise around $5 million, in their pre-Series A round of funding so that they can develop flying taxis.
But what does it really mean, and how soon will flying cars and taxis be a part of our everyday life?
India’s First Flying Taxi Startup Raises $5 Million
In January of 2022, The ePlane Company, a Chennai-based company has reportedly managed to raise around $5 million, that amounts to roughly Rs. 37 crore to develop their technology and build flying taxis in the pre-Series A round of funding.
Deep-tech venture capitalist Speciale Invest and climate-focussed fund Micelio have been said to lead this funding round.
Before this, the company had already raised around $1 million in March last year and according to news agency PTI for this round of funding investors, including Naval Ravikant, Prashant Pitti (Co-Founder of Easemytrip), Anicut Capital, Infoedge, UTEC (University of Tokyo Edge Capital), 3one4 Capital, Thought Ventures, Java Capital and Firstcheque.vc participated.
The ePlane Company was founded in 2017 and officially launched in 2019 with the aim to build the e200, the world’s most compact flying taxi that can transport both passengers and be used for cargo transport. The company hopes that their service will lead to a decrease in road accidents and help with congestion and traffic jams happening on road.
The company was co-founded by Aerospace Engineering professor Satya Chakravarthy and his student, IIT Madras graduate Pranjal Mehta and currently has around 36 employees.
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As per reports, these funds are going to be invested into the advancement of R&D (research and development) along with talent hiring, increasing engineering bandwidth and “continue to gain airworthiness provision and initiate certification for its products”.
Vishesh Rajaram, Managing Partner, Speciale Invest, speaking about the funding said that “The eplane Company is one of the unique companies with the vision to create technology that will make India self-sufficient. We at Speciale Invest are fortunate to be associated with them. It aligns with our vision of backing disruptive companies solving global problems via tech innovations very well. With this round, they are well on their way to making regional aerial transportation a reality. All the very best to them.”
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: Moneycontrol, The Economic Times, CNBCTV18
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This post is tagged under: India First Flying Taxi Startup, Asia, aviation, aviation car, Chennai, Company, concept car, flight, flying cars, future, hybrid, india, sky, Start-up, Technology, traffic, Vehicles, flying cars, flying taxi, flying cars india, ePlane Company, ePlane Company funding, ePlane Company chennai, chennai flying taxi startup
