Aerospace and defence startup Newspace Research and Technologies (NRT), which builds unmanned drones, is looking to raise between $35-40 million in its Series C funding, according to three people familiar with the matter.
“The raise is a mix of equity and debt, but their debt investors are only likely to go ahead once NRT manages to secure the equity component,” said a person familiar with knowledge of the deal. Debt investors in the company include Trifecta Capital and Stride Ventures.
“The company is looking to close out the round by December. They're involving private equity in this round,” a second person said. “While they're received a term sheet from existing investor 360 ONE Asset, a few family offices are also involved, as is Avendus.”
Notably, 360 One is an existing investor and has made a few bets in deeptech, including aerospace startup Digantara, rapid battery charging for electric vehicles company Exponent Energy, recently IPO'd precision manufacturer SEDEMAC, and radar startup Sisir Radar. In January, the firm announced a ₹1,500 crore fund focused on defence and aerospace investments.
The company has been in the process of raising since last year. However, the round has not been without difficulty.
“Their round has been having some difficulty because they've been projecting ₹1,000 crore in revenue over the past three years to investors, and the needle hasn't moved much,” said a third person with knowledge of the matter on the condition of anonymity.
Newspace's round comes at a time when deeptech investments are accelerating, especially in sovereign areas like defence, manufacturing, telecom and chip design.
Deeptech has seen funding into the sector boom, with overall deal value having shot up, despite a drop-off in volume. So far this year, the sector has raised $2.4 billion across 213 deals, compared to the entirety of last year, when it raised $1.6 billion across 458 deals, according to startup intelligence platform Tracxn.
Queries sent to NRT, Avendus remained unanswered until the time of publishing. 360 One Asset declined to comment.
Newspace's last large round was in 2024, when the company raised $52 million in a mix of equity, from Cornerstone Venture Partners, 360 ONE Asset and Volrado Venture Partners, and debt from State Bank of India’s startup hub and the Small Industries Development Bank of India.
Newspace's revenue has fluctuated considerably since FY23, when it closed out the fiscal at $13.5 million in revenue, with a net profit of $154,000, according to startup intelligence platform Tracxn. In FY24, the company's revenue stood at $765,000 while the company swung to losses, standing at $5.6 million. In FY25, the company's revenue climbed once more to $12.2 million, but so did losses, at $7.9 million.
“It's not necessarily their fault, because a lot of their contracts are with the government, and those payments haven't come through yet,” the third person cited above said.
In January this year, the company received an $18.6 million contract from the government to supply an undisclosed amount of solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicles, according to a report from open-source intelligence company Janes.
NRT builds high-altitude, long-endurance (HAPS) drones designed to stay airborne for months at heights of 5-20 km, alongside AI-powered swarm drone systems built for defence and civilian use. The firm works in close partnership with DRDO, India's leading military research agency.
On the global competitive front, NRT is up against Anduril Industries and Shield AI, two American firms building AI-driven autonomous defence tech. Back home, one of its larger competitors is Tata Advanced Systems, a leading Indian defence player expanding its unmanned systems capabilities.
