A surge in private car ownership and a decline in public and non-motorized transport use is increasing traffic congestion in India, the world’s most populous country, hampered by the city’s relatively narrow roads and inadequate parking facilities. New Delhi recognizes these challenges and has been exploring new ways to quickly address them.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at an event in September that air taxis would soon become “a reality in India,” indicating the government is interested in supporting the new mode of transportation. The country’s aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, also recently enacted rules for vertical ports to pave the way for air taxis.
ePlane Company is riding this wave.
Founded by IIT Madras aerospace engineering professor Satya Chakravarthy in 2019, the startup has built the e200x, an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicle, within months of developing unmanned drones for cargo and camera applications. there is. Chakravarthy has had a strong career. He is also a co-founder and advisor to Indian space technology startups, including Agnikul and GalaxyEye, and TuTr Hyperloop, a startup focused on Indian hyperloops.
Chakravarthy told TechCrunch that ePlane has secured IP to develop an intra-urban commuter and cargo-focused aircraft with significantly slower flight speeds and a small wingspan of 8 meters, unlike typical air taxis with wingspans of 12 to 16 meters. This allows it to land in tighter spaces and make multiple short trips on a single charge (up to 60 trips per day), he says. Commuters can cut travel times by up to 85%, he claims, for less than twice the fare they would normally pay when using Uber.
Most eVTOL vehicles are now multicopters similar to commercial drones, including air taxis that carry spokes and vertical rotors. Chakravarthy said this configuration is easier to develop and implement in the market, but cannot cover greater distances on a single battery charge. ePlane chose a lift-plus-cruise configuration where the vehicle has a wing structure like a typical airplane, but uses vertical rotors similar to a drone.
“This configuration has proven to be very reliable in practice because it has redundancy in terms of the vertical rotor that supports the weight of the aircraft, and the wings progressively balance the weight so that there is no loss of lift. during the transition from vertical takeoff and hovering to forward flight,” he said.
The startup has also developed a technology called Synergy Lift, which makes the wings compact enough to use vertical rotors even in forward flight.
Chakravarthy told TechCrunch that ePlane manufactures aircraft components, including airframe parts, seats and propeller designs, at its IIT Madras facility. The startup outsources the cells but assembles aircraft batteries in its own facilities to manage the aircraft’s center of gravity.
Chakravarthy told TechCrunch that the startup aims to commercialize its electric air taxi in mid- to late 2026 after securing the necessary certifications from authorities in India and around the world and building a prototype of the aircraft in the first half of 2025.
Prior to testing the vehicle, ePlane raised a $14 million Series B round co-led by Speciale Invest and Singapore-based 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 valuation of $21 million.
The new capital will help ePlane, which has a workforce of more than 100 people, secure global regulatory certification and strengthen its commercialization efforts.
Success in India will help ePlane expand into 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,” Chakravarthy said.
