Indian Start-up Prepares to Fly Subscale eVTOL Technology Demonstrator

Chennai-based ePlane has raised almost $1 million in seed funding to advance its plans for an all-electric, two-seat eVTOL aircraft.

ePlane e200 — Indian start-up ePlane is working on a design for a two-seat eVTOL aircraft called the e200, as shown in this representative early design drawing. (Image: ePlane)

By Charles Alcock • Managing Editor

March 12, 2021

Indian start-up ePlane is aiming to fly a subscale model of its planned two-seat, all-electric eVTOL aircraft by early July. With a payload of 50 kg (110 pounds), the technology demonstrator will be around one-quarter of the size of the 200 kg aircraft it aims to start flight testing around 12 months from now.

The Chennai-based company was founded in 2019 by Satyanarayanan Chakravarthy, who is an aerospace engineering professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-Madras), along with one of his students Pranjal Mehta. It has just raised $850,000 in seed funding from venture capital group Speciale Invest, private investor Naval Ravikant, JavaCapital, FirstCheque, and CIIE.

The rest of this article continues for AIN Members with the full report, analysis and background. The rest of this article continues for AIN Members with the full report, analysis and background. The rest of this article continues for AIN Members with the full report, analysis and background. The rest of this article continues for AIN Members with the full report, analysis and background. The rest of this article continues for AIN Members with the full report, analysis and background.

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