War spurs call for push to defence startups

"UNTIL WE SEE startups being granted multi-year contracts, backed by funding pipelines that allow for serious R&D, this sector will find it hard to grow beyond isolated wins,

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" said Hareesh Chandrasekar, CEO and co-founder of AGNIT Semiconductors. His company manufactures GaN wafers and devices for strategic wireless defence and space applications.

According to Tracxn, India currently has 133 active defence tech startups, which have raised a total of $405 million through 131 funding rounds, which is still modest when measured against the capital-intensive demands of aerospace and defence technology development.