In a powerful vote of confidence for India’s emerging defence-tech ecosystem, Sanlayan Technologies, a Bengaluru-based aerospace and defence startup, has raised ₹186 crore (~$22 million) in a Series A round. The funding was led by marquee names like Ashish Kacholia, Lashit Sanghvi, and Jungle Ventures, with strong backing from existing investors Gemba Capital, Singularity Ventures, and new entrant Shastra VC.

For a startup just over a year old, the journey has been nothing short of mission-critical. Founded by former Zetwerk executives Abhijit Kothawale, Rohan Gala, and Rahul Vamsidhar, Sanlayan is carving out a bold niche at the intersection of high-stakes innovation and national defence. Their work spans the design and development of radar systems, electronic warfare (EW) tech, and mission-critical avionics—all indigenously developed for Indian and allied defence forces.

What’s next?
Rohan Gala, co-founder and CEO, laid it out clearly: “We’re scaling fast. This fresh capital will help us 5x our engineering team in the next six months. We’re actively bringing in R&D scientists, domain experts, retired armed forces personnel, and senior leaders from both public and private defence sectors.”

But it’s not just organic growth. Sanlayan recently made headlines by acquiring a majority stake in Dexcel Electronics, a 20-year-old embedded systems pioneer that has contributed to major Indian defence programs—think Jaguar, Sukhoi, LCA Tejas, and Chandrayaan-3.

With this acquisition and internal R&D muscle, Sanlayan is now working on next-gen tech like AESA radar for unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) and critical CUAS (counter-unmanned aircraft systems).

This is a clear signal that Indian defence tech isn’t just catching up—it’s leading the charge.

From building out EW systems to scaling indigenous innovation at mission-critical levels, Sanlayan’s trajectory reflects a larger trend: India’s startup ecosystem stepping into strategic sectors once dominated by global incumbents.