Tonbo Imaging, a defence technologies start-up based in Palo Alto and Bengaluru has raised $17 million in a series B funding led by WRV capital along with Qualcomm Ventures, Edelweiss Private Equity and a major silicon valley investor, Artiman Ventures. This is the largest investment in the domestic defence technology space.
Tonbo Imaging will use the financing to improve its technology and product offering. Recently, it scored a border surveillance contract in North America and Europe to deploy electro-optics worth $25 million. The company aims to expand its global reach in defence markets and hasten their product growth in in automotive safety markets. They are also planning to acquire companies who have an expertise in laser and photonics.
Tonbo Imaging has its offices in Bengaluru, Palo Alto, Greece, Poland and Singapore and has an employee base of around 170 people. It was founded by Arvind Lakshmikumar in 2012.
Tonbo Imaging mainly deals with the production of advanced imaging and night vision systems that used especially by the military and various commercial organizations. It’s prime focus revolves around thermal imaging technique which provides embellished vision in low light conditions by using heat signatures. Using the technique of thermal imaging, Tonbo Imaging also specializes in products like fire-control systems and drone reconnaissance. US Department of Defence (DoD), US Navy SEALs and US Special Operations Command are some of the prominent organizations that use their products. It has also worked on protecting Pathankhot, an air base in Punjab that was attacked in January 2016. In the commercial world, Tonbo Imaging has made an eminent contribution too. It has been engaged in some pilot projects for tech giants, Uber and Tesla for heads up displays in self-driving cars.
With this hefty investment, Ganapathy Subramaniam from WRV Capital and Pranav Parikh from Edelweiss Private Equity have joined Tonbo’s board of directors.
Some other major startups that are working in the same genre are CRON Systems, Aadyah Aerospace, ideaForge, VizExperts.