Bengaluru-based deeptech startup DheyaTech — legally Dheya Engineering Technologies — has closed a ₹43 crore (~$4.9 million) Pre-Series A led by Avaana Capital with participation from strategic investor Unimech Aerospace and Manufacturing, to scale India's first indigenous family of micro gas-turbine engines.
Small turbines, big gap
Founded in 2018 by Gurushankara K C, Abhinav Alva and Chetan Kumar, DheyaTech builds turbojet and turboshaft engines from 20 kgf to 400 kgf thrust for unmanned aerial platforms, target drones and short-endurance loitering munitions — a segment where Indian OEMs still import propulsion from Europe, Israel or the United States. Each engine ships with the company's own adaptive engine control unit, and the roadmap includes a 60-kW hydrogen-compatible flexi-fuel turbogenerator being developed with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru.
Where the money goes
The Pre-Series A will fund flight trials of a new engine class in the fourth quarter of 2026, an expansion of the Bengaluru manufacturing line, and independent airworthiness certification of the company's engines through India's Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification (CEMILAC), a DRDO laboratory. "We have spent the last decade building deep expertise in gas turbine technology with the vision of creating world-class propulsion and energy solutions from India," chief executive Gurushankara K C said in a statement.
Why Avaana bit
"The next generation of Indian deep tech companies will not just adapt technologies developed elsewhere; they will build globally relevant platforms from the ground up," said Vikas Verma, a partner at Avaana Capital. The bet lines up with a wider push in Indian defence electronics and aerospace — see the Draganfly heavy-lift approval and the deepening Indian drone ecosystem — as domestic buyers hunt for propulsion suppliers that clear both cost and export-control hurdles.
Reporting based on coverage from Inc42, Entrackr, StartupTalky and Avaana Capital.