ePlane looks to ride the Indian government’s interest in air taxis with a new $14M round

The increase in private car ownership and the decline in the use of public and non-motorized transport have created traffic congestion in India, the world’s most populous country, which also suffers from narrow roads and insufficient parking spaces in cities. New Delhi recognizes these challenges and has been looking for new ways to address them quickly.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at an event in September, said that air taxis will soon be “a reality in India,” indicating the government’s interest in supporting this new form of transportation. The directorate of aviation in the country, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, has also recently set up rules for vertiports to be used as a base for taxis.

The ePlane Company is riding this wave.

The startup, founded by IIT Madras aerospace engineering professor Satya Chakravarthy in 2019, is building its electric take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicle, the e200x, a few months after developing unmanned drones for cargo and camera applications. Chakravarthy has a strong pedigree: He is also a founder and advisor to Indian space technology startups, including Agnikul and GalaxEye, as well as India’s hyperloop-focused startup, TuTr Hyperloop.

Chakravarthy told TechCrunch that ePlane has secured IPs in developing an intra-city commuter and cargo-oriented aircraft with optimal flight speeds and 8-foot wingspans, unlike conventional air taxis with 12- to 16-wing wingspans. That will enable it to stay in tight spaces and make short trips more often — up to 60 trips a day — on a single charge, he says. Passengers will reduce travel time by 85%, at less than double the cost of Uber, he said.

Most eVTOL vehicles are currently multicopters similar to commercial drones, including air taxis carrying rotors and stationary rotors. Chakravarthy said that while this configuration is easy to develop and use in the market, it does not cover long distances on a single battery charge. The ePlane opted for a lift-plus-cruise configuration where the vehicle carries wing structures like a regular airplane but with vertical rotors like a drone.

“This configuration has proven to be very reliable because we are very reliable in terms of vertical rotors that carry the weight of the aircraft, while the wings take their share of the weight gradually so that we don’t lose lift. during the transition from a direct take off and move up and forward,” he said.

The startup has also developed a technology called synergistic lift, which uses vertical rotors even in forward flight to make the wings converge sufficiently.

Chakravarthy told TechCrunch that ePlane manufactures aircraft components at its IIT Madras facility, including airframe components and designing seats and propellers. The launcher removes the cells but integrates the aircraft’s batteries into its base to control the aircraft’s center of gravity.

The startup aims to sell its electric air taxi in the middle to the second half of 2026 after receiving the necessary certifications from Indian and global authorities and prototype the aircraft in the first half of 2025, Chakravarthy told TechCrunch.

Before testing the vehicle, ePlane raised a $14 million Series B round co-led by Speciale Invest and Singapore’s Antares Ventures. The all-equity round also included participation from Micelio Mobility, Naval Ravikant, Java Capital, Samarthya Investment Advisors, Redstart (from Naukri), and Anicut. The round valued the startup at $46 million — more than double its previous estimate of $21 million.

The new capital will help ePlane, which has more than 100 employees, secure global regulatory certifications and boost its sales efforts.

India’s success will help ePlane enter other markets, including the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Australia, and Europe.

“We are working with the conviction that going forward, what is good for India will be good for the world,” said Chakravarthy.