AquaAirX, a deep-tech startup focused on building amphibious and underwater autonomous platforms, has raised INR 12.5 crore in a seed funding round led by Rainmatter, the investment arm of Zerodha founded by Nithin Kamath. In addition, Prime Venture Partners, Wyser, and India Accelerator participated in the round.
Following the fundraiser, AquaAirX will use the capital to strengthen its core technology stack, including system autonomy, air-to-water transition reliability, advanced sensing, and robust communication capabilities. Furthermore, the company will expand its engineering and research teams across robotics, autonomy, controls, and embedded systems. At the same time, AquaAirX will prioritise rigorous testing, validation, and certification aligned with defence-grade standards while preparing for pilot deployments with strategic customers.
Founded by Jitendra Kumar Purnmal Saini and Gouthami T. S., AquaAirX is developing a first-of-its-kind amphibious unmanned platform capable of seamlessly transitioning between aerial flight and underwater operations. As a result, the platform eliminates the need for separate aerial and underwater drones, thereby allowing missions to continue across air and sea without redeployment. Consequently, the system enhances intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions by delivering faster response times, reduced operational risk, and greater mission flexibility.
In parallel, AquaAirX is also developing a Hovering Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (HAUV) designed for precise underwater inspection, monitoring, and intervention. The company is targeting defence and high-value commercial applications with this platform.
Gouthami T. S., Co-Founder & CEO, AquaAirX, said, “The future of maritime intelligence and surveillance will be defined by platforms that can seamlessly operate across domains. This funding allows us to accelerate our vision of building indigenous, mission-ready amphibious and underwater autonomous systems that fundamentally change how maritime operations are conducted, for both defence and critical commercial applications.”
Jitendra Kumar Purnmal Saini, Co-Founder & CTO, AquaAirX, said, “Today’s maritime operations are constrained by siloed platforms that operate either in the air or underwater, creating gaps in intelligence, response time, and operational continuity. Our vision is to eliminate this fragmentation by building autonomous systems that can seamlessly transition across domains while remaining reliable, covert, and mission-ready. This funding allows us to tackle some of the hardest engineering problems in autonomy, controls, and systems integration and to mature our technology into platforms that can operate in real-world, defence-grade environments.”
Abhinav Singh Negi, Investment Manager, Rainmatter, said, “We invested in AquaAirX because they are not just building a vehicle but laying the foundational architecture for true autonomy across air and underwater domains. The team is tackling one of the hardest engineering problems—multi-domain autonomous operations—with rare clarity and ambition. What stood out to us was their systems-level thinking, defence-grade approach, and long-term vision to create highly sophisticated autonomous platforms that can redefine maritime and aerial operations. We strongly believe AquaAirX has the potential to emerge as a category-defining company in next-generation autonomous systems.”
Over the past 12 months, AquaAirX has advanced its flagship amphibious platform to Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 6. During this period, the company secured selection into the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) NeuSPHERE program, cleared multiple milestones under India’s iDEX initiative, and received recognition through IDEABAAZ and the HDFC Tech Innovators program. Together, these achievements have validated the technology and enabled early global partnerships.
Looking ahead, AquaAirX plans to deepen collaborations with Indian and international defence partners, scale large-scale trials, and prepare for manufacturing. Ultimately, the company aims to enter defence and commercial markets by 2027.
