Planys Technologies, a Chennai-based startup that is engaged in developing niche underwater robotic inspection equipment has just raised Rs 14 crore ($2.19 million) as part of its series A funding round.
The funding saw participation from a bunch of institutions and individuals. Leading the way was the Navratna PSU Oil & Natural Gas Corporation, via its investment arm, ONGC Startup Fund and the prominent among the individuals is Kris Gopalakrishnan, through his investment vehicle Pratithi Trust. Others to pick up their shares included the MEMG Family Office of Ranjan Pai and the Keiretsu Forum (Chennai and Singapore).
Planys Technologies developed underwater drones that help test underwater structures such as bridges, dams and offshore oil rigs and so on. And the testing equipment is built using robotics and they see application in a very wide range of industries. These include those engaged in the shipping and other maritime activities, infrastructure (for surveying bridges and dams under water and the energy sector, e.g. Oil and Gas.
The robotic inspection equipment offers a much better alternative to the manual way of sending divers to do the testing and inspection with equipment they cannot handle conveniently. These machines are also called remote operated vehicles or ROVs and are not quite different from drones that can operate under water.
“Having successfully completed over 35 projects spread across multiple sectors with many repeat orders, I think it’s been a fantastic 2 years for us. We thank our customers, investors and advisors for their constant support and encouragement throughout. With this fund raise, we are on course to create a huge impact and make such technology easily available in India.” says Tanuj Jhunjhunwala, Co-Founder and CEO of Planys.
Planys Technologies enjoys a head start since the kind of testing and survey equipment used so far in India have been imported and the users have been paying huge sums to get them and use them. There were operational difficulties also. Now Planys has found an economical, easier to operate and also an accurate way to execute the same tasks.
Planys was founded by 2 IIT Alumni/Faculty and originally incubated by IIT-M. They will use the freshly inducted funds to expand their operations, both technologically and in broadening the product portfolio.