Drone maker Arctus Aerospace raises $2.6 M from Version One Ventures, South Park Commons, others

Bangalore-based Arctus Aerospace has raised USD 2.6 million in a pre-seed round from Version One Ventures, South Park Commons, gradCapital, and angel investors Balaji Srinivasan, Srinivas Narayan (CTO, OpenAI B2B Applications), Ather engineers, and executives from Bounce Infinity and Boom Supersonic. Arctus also participated in the Founder Fellowship programme of South Park Commons.Founded in 2023, Arctus Aerospace develops large unmanned aircraft designed to operate at 45,000 feet for up to 24 hours. The company is focused on building engineering stacks in high-altitude, long-endurance aviation to provide commercial access to capabilities historically limited to defence programmes or satellite systems.Arctus aims to provide high-altitude intelligence at a rate of USD 100 per hour, offering strategic-grade sensing for various commercial applications.