Defence technology startup Tonbo has raised Rs 175 crore in a Series D round of funding from Florintree Advisors and EXIM Bank ahead of its planned initial public offering. The pre-IPO round valued the Bengaluru-based company at Rs 1,500 crore.
Founded in 2012, Tonbo had previously raised more than Rs 300 crore from other investors including Artiman, Qualcomm, Celesta, Edelweiss, and HBL Engineering.
Inspired by the dragonfly, that has an 95% success rate while hunting due to superior visual capabilities, Tonbo is the brainchild of three Indian entrepreneurs—Arvind Lakshmikumar, a NASA/DARPA fellow and program director for international military and scientific programmes across the US, Europe and India; Ankit Kumar, a former director, applied vision at Sarnoff; and Cecilia D'Souza, the former financial controller for Sarnoff's international operations. The trio collectively own about 20% of Tonbo.
Tonbo, which means dragonfly in Japanese, is currently a leading supplier of vision equipment in the global security and defence market including India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Air Force. Itoffers a range of military equipment including helmet-mounted night vision goggles, thermal weapon sights, and solutions for aerial reconnaissance missions.
"Dragonflies are nature’s ultimate aerial predators, possessing an extraordinary combination of vision, agility, and endurance that makes them a powerful inspiration for advanced imaging and flight technology," said Lakshmikumar. "Their visual system is one of the most sophisticated in the animal kingdom, featuring a 360° panoramic view, 30,000 photoreceptors for multidirectional vision, and the ability to process motion at 200 frames per second. Their unmatched level of perception and manoeuvrability makes them an ideal model for the design of next generation imaging, situational awareness and combat systems for the modern battlefield."
Spun out of Sarnoff Corporation, a New Jersey-based vision, video and semiconductor company and Stanford Research International, Tonbo currently has 250 employees.
Tonbo’s technology and designs for sensing, understanding and control are inspired by nature’s design of the dragonfly. "We believe that through the design of these biomimetic imaging and control systems, our products can revolutionize surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting for the next generation of warfare," Aravind told ET.
Tonbo Imaging designs cutting-edge sensing and processing systems that enhance situational awareness, targeting precision, and autonomous battlefield operations. Its technology is already being deployed in over 30 countries including by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), US Navy SEALs, NATO, the Armenian Ministry of Defense, as well as the Indian armed forces. Its innovations have been a key part of the modernisation of India’s Arjun Main Battle Tank and the Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) programme of Bharat Dynamics.
The company generates about half of its revenue from global customers, which significantly de-risks the business model from full dependence on Indian customers.
Since its inception, Tonbo’s annual revenues have remained below Rs100 crore for a long period. However, since 2023, the company is experiencing rapid acceleration in business. In FY23, it secured several major orders totalling over Rs 800 crore. Revenue spiralled to over Rs 425 crore in FY24 and is well on way to deliver a 30% growth in FY25 with a strong profitability, people said.
"With its deep expertise in imaging, artificial intelligence, and autonomous systems, the company is well-positioned to address emerging global security challenges,” said Mathew Cyriac, founder of Florintree Capital. “We are excited to scale the business and build a global defence tech business out of India”.
He did not disclose the size of stake Florintee would get in lieu of its investment.
Florintree Advisors, led by Cyriac – a former India head of Blackstone, has concluded investments across many sectors in the private as well as public markets, listing three of its portfolio companies—MTAR Technologies, Data Patterns and Ideaforge Technology.
Last year, Florintree exited its investment in Data Patterns (India) Ltd, selling its entire 10.71% stake worth about Rs 1,100 through a block deal. Florintree made a return of 21x in less than three years from Data Patterns, making it one of the strongest exits by a private equity investor in the Indian markets. It also owns a significant stake in Videonetics, the Kolkata-based video computing platform company.
Founded in 2012, Tonbo had previously raised more than Rs 300 crore from other investors including Artiman, Qualcomm, Celesta, Edelweiss, and HBL Engineering.
Inspired by the dragonfly, that has an 95% success rate while hunting due to superior visual capabilities, Tonbo is the brainchild of three Indian entrepreneurs—Arvind Lakshmikumar, a NASA/DARPA fellow and program director for international military and scientific programmes across the US, Europe and India; Ankit Kumar, a former director, applied vision at Sarnoff; and Cecilia D'Souza, the former financial controller for Sarnoff's international operations. The trio collectively own about 20% of Tonbo.
Tonbo, which means dragonfly in Japanese, is currently a leading supplier of vision equipment in the global security and defence market including India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Air Force. Itoffers a range of military equipment including helmet-mounted night vision goggles, thermal weapon sights, and solutions for aerial reconnaissance missions.
"Dragonflies are nature’s ultimate aerial predators, possessing an extraordinary combination of vision, agility, and endurance that makes them a powerful inspiration for advanced imaging and flight technology," said Lakshmikumar. "Their visual system is one of the most sophisticated in the animal kingdom, featuring a 360° panoramic view, 30,000 photoreceptors for multidirectional vision, and the ability to process motion at 200 frames per second. Their unmatched level of perception and manoeuvrability makes them an ideal model for the design of next generation imaging, situational awareness and combat systems for the modern battlefield."
Spun out of Sarnoff Corporation, a New Jersey-based vision, video and semiconductor company and Stanford Research International, Tonbo currently has 250 employees.
Tonbo’s technology and designs for sensing, understanding and control are inspired by nature’s design of the dragonfly. "We believe that through the design of these biomimetic imaging and control systems, our products can revolutionize surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting for the next generation of warfare," Aravind told ET.
Tonbo Imaging designs cutting-edge sensing and processing systems that enhance situational awareness, targeting precision, and autonomous battlefield operations. Its technology is already being deployed in over 30 countries including by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), US Navy SEALs, NATO, the Armenian Ministry of Defense, as well as the Indian armed forces. Its innovations have been a key part of the modernisation of India’s Arjun Main Battle Tank and the Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) programme of Bharat Dynamics.
The company generates about half of its revenue from global customers, which significantly de-risks the business model from full dependence on Indian customers.
Since its inception, Tonbo’s annual revenues have remained below Rs100 crore for a long period. However, since 2023, the company is experiencing rapid acceleration in business. In FY23, it secured several major orders totalling over Rs 800 crore. Revenue spiralled to over Rs 425 crore in FY24 and is well on way to deliver a 30% growth in FY25 with a strong profitability, people said.
"With its deep expertise in imaging, artificial intelligence, and autonomous systems, the company is well-positioned to address emerging global security challenges,” said Mathew Cyriac, founder of Florintree Capital. “We are excited to scale the business and build a global defence tech business out of India”.
He did not disclose the size of stake Florintee would get in lieu of its investment.
Florintree Advisors, led by Cyriac – a former India head of Blackstone, has concluded investments across many sectors in the private as well as public markets, listing three of its portfolio companies—MTAR Technologies, Data Patterns and Ideaforge Technology.
Last year, Florintree exited its investment in Data Patterns (India) Ltd, selling its entire 10.71% stake worth about Rs 1,100 through a block deal. Florintree made a return of 21x in less than three years from Data Patterns, making it one of the strongest exits by a private equity investor in the Indian markets. It also owns a significant stake in Videonetics, the Kolkata-based video computing platform company.
