The funding will advance Arctus’s full-stack manufacturing of high-altitude aircraft for affordable, real-time geospatial sensing.
Arctus Aerospace, a frontier aerospace company building large unmanned aircraft capable of flying at 45,000 feet for up to 24 hours, has raised $2.6 million in a pre-seed round from Version One Ventures, South Park Commons, gradCapital, and notable angels such as Balaji Srinivasan, Srinivas Narayan (CTO, OpenAI B2B Applications), early Ather engineers, and leaders from Bounce Infinity and Boom Supersonic, among others. Arctus was also part of the Founder Fellowship of South Park Commons earlier this year.
Arctus is developing one of the world’s deepest engineering stacks in high-altitude, long-endurance aviation, unlocking commercial access to a capability that has historically existed only within defence programmes or billion-dollar satellite systems. Only seven companies globally have built aircraft in this altitude endurance class, and none have offered it as an accessible commercial platform.
The high-altitude Earth observation industry has been limited by expensive satellites with slow revisit rates and defence HALE aircraft priced far beyond commercial reach. This has created a clear gap: industries need frequent, high-resolution, on-demand data, but existing systems are either cost-prohibitive or operationally rigid.
Arctus addresses this gap by enabling high-altitude intelligence at $100/hour, making strategic-grade sensing commercially viable for the first time. The platform supports advanced modalities SAR, hyperspectral, optical, EO, and IR at dramatically lower costs. Imagery that typically costs $10,000 for 500 sq. km can now be delivered for ~$500, opening access to real-time, high-resolution intelligence across energy, infrastructure, climate, and security applications.
“Our mission is to eliminate all ground infrastructure required to monitor, inspect, or understand the planet on centimetre-level resolution,” said Shreepoorna S Rao, Founder and CEO, Arctus Aerospace. “By flying large unmanned aircraft at high altitudes for long durations, we are building the foundation for true zero-infrastructure Earth intelligence; when executed, it will kill satellite-based commercial Earth observation.”
“Arctus is developing high-altitude aviation capability that can redefine how high-value sensing and Earth observation are delivered,” said Boris Wertz, Founding Partner, Version One Ventures. “Their engineering depth and vision for zero-infrastructure intelligence make it a new market creation product which can unlock a lot of value for commercial players.”
“Building a company like Arctus takes a rare combination of audacity, fearlessness, creativity, and the will to succeed. These are the qualities that we saw in Shree from the early days at SPC and why we are so excited to be his partner in this adventure. We have a real chance here to make a dent in the universe,” said Aditya Agarwal, General Partner, South Park Commons.
Arctus currently operates aircraft flying at 10,000+ feet, achieving centimetre-level geospatial accuracy and real-time downstream capability. The company builds its aircraft and manufacturing and testing operations from its 25,000 sq. ft facility in Bangalore.
About Arctus Aerospace:
Arctus Aerospace builds the world’s most efficient high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft for commercial geospatial applications. Their 18-metre wingspan platform flies at 45,000 feet for 24 hours with a 250 kg payload, offering zero-infrastructure Earth intelligence affordably. The company manages full-stack R&D, manufacturing, and flight testing in-house across India.
SOURCE – PR
