Arctus Aerospace Raises $2.6M to Build High-Altitude Unmanned Aircraft

Arctus Aerospace has secured a $2.6 million pre-seed round to accelerate the development of its high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) unmanned aircraft designed for zero-infrastructure Earth observation. The funding round includes Version One Ventures, South Park Commons, gradCapital, and notable angel investors, including Balaji Srinivasan, Srinivas Narayan (CTO, OpenAI B2B Applications), early Ather engineers, and leaders from Bounce Infinity and Boom Supersonic.

The India-based aerospace startup is building one of the deepest full-stack engineering and manufacturing capabilities in the unmanned aviation space—entirely in-house. Its upcoming aircraft platform is designed to fly at 45,000 feet, stay airborne for up to 24 hours, and carry a 250 kg payload, enabling real-time, high-resolution geospatial intelligence at a fraction of traditional costs.

A New Alternative to Satellite-Based Intelligence

Today, high-altitude Earth observation is dominated by expensive satellites or defence-focused HALE platforms—both cost-prohibitive for commercial use. With slow revisit cycles and rigid operational constraints, these systems cannot support industries that require frequent, on-demand, high-resolution data.

Arctus aims to fill this gap with a platform capable of delivering intelligence at $100 per flight hour, reducing sensing costs by up to 20×. The aircraft will support advanced imaging modalities, including SAR, hyperspectral, EO/IR, optical, and multispectral. Geospatial data that typically costs $10,000 for 500 sq. km can now be delivered for approximately $500, opening access for energy, infrastructure, climate monitoring, and security sectors.

Zero-Infrastructure Earth Intelligence

“Our mission is to eliminate all ground infrastructure required to monitor or understand the planet at centimetre-level resolution,” said Shreepoorna S Rao, Founder & CEO, Arctus Aerospace. He added that their platform aims to become a commercially viable alternative to satellite-based Earth observation.

Backers also believe Arctus is creating a new market category. Boris Wertz, Founding Partner at Version One Ventures, noted that the company’s vision and engineering depth position it to reshape the future of high-value sensing.

Arctus already operates aircraft flying above 10,000 feet, achieving centimetre-level geospatial accuracy with real-time downstream processing. All aircraft design, manufacturing, and testing are performed at the company’s 25,000 sq. ft facility in Bangalore, signaling India’s rising capabilities in advanced aerospace engineering.

With this funding, Arctus aims to accelerate its path toward deploying the world’s most efficient, commercially accessible high-altitude unmanned aircraft platform.