Deeptech startup AjnaLens recently announced that it has raised $1.5mn in Pre-Series A funding round. The funding was led by Maharashtra Defence and Aerospace Venture Fund (MDAVF). Other investors include Mohsin Group and high-net worth-individuals (HNI) like Nailesh Khimji, Chirayu Khimji and Jay Jesrani.
It is understood that the company will use these funds to enhance its defence offering, manufacturing headsets, improving technology, and product capabilities. The company also intends to invest this fund for talent acquisition and market expansion.
Talking about the tech industry’s rise, AjnaLens Co-founder and CEO Pankaj Raut said, “The tech industry is evolving at a rapid pace and the government, as well as the educational institutes, are also embracing this change.”
Dimension NXG, the parent of AjnaLens was founded by Pankaj Raut, Abhishek Tomar and Abhijit Patil in November 2014 in Maharashtra. The startup leverages technologies like AR, VR, and AI to offer mixed reality hardware which is used in the area of defence and education.
Talking about the recent investment, Amey Belorkar, Vice President, IDBI Capital Markets and Securities Ltd. and Investment Manager of MDAVF, said, “Dimension has developed a high- quality MR product for the defence sector – AjnaBolt. It is a solution for enhancing the capability and empowering our armed forces and internal security personnel. In addition, the product also has varied applications.”
Prior to this funding, the company had raised angel funding from Vijay Shekhar Sharma (Founder PayTM), Japan Vyas (Founder Roots Ventures), Kajaria Ceramics’ Joint MD Chetan Kajaria, Bhatia Brothers’ Director Manish Bhatia, and Jay Mountain Lion Partners’ Jay Jesrani.
Currently, defence organisations like the Indian Army, Airforce, Navy and DRDO rely on products made by AjnaLens. Other than these, the company also provides its services to private players like ATOP food, Khimji Ramdas, PM Experts, among others.
Nailesh Khimji of Khimji Ramdas Group stated, “I am already seeing interesting use cases of AjnaLens in our business training, operations, and maintenance. AjnaLens will surely have path-breaking use cases in defence and medical areas.”
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