Octobotics Tech Pvt. Ltd., an India-based industrial robotics startup focused on Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) automation, has raised approximately Rs. 10 crore in a Series Seed funding round. The round was led by Navam Capital, with participation from BYT Capital. The company plans to use the fresh capital to accelerate product development, strengthen field validation, and support its international expansion plans.
Founded in 2020 by Ishan Bhatnagar and Gulshan Kumar, Octobotics develops AI-enabled, vertically integrated NDT robotics platforms designed to operate in harsh and high-risk industrial environments. Its solutions are aimed at addressing inspection challenges across sectors such as Oil & Gas, Chemicals & Petrochemicals, Marine, Power, Fertilizers, and Rail—industries where safety, asset uptime, and regulatory compliance are critical.
Octobotics currently serves a roster of prominent clients, including the Indian Navy, Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), Saudi S-Chem, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), Aarti Industries, and Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals (GSFC). The company reported annual revenues of Rs. 2 crore in the last fiscal year, reflecting early commercial traction in asset-intensive sectors.
According to the founders, the newly raised funds will support further research and development, particularly around vertical integration of hardware, sensors, and analytics, as well as the pursuit of global safety certifications such as IECEx and ATEX. The company also plans to expand its operational footprint across India, Singapore, and the Middle East.
“The distribution-led approach allows us to deploy these systems to assist human operators and significantly reduce manual intervention in hazardous environments,” said co-founders Ishan Bhatnagar and Gulshan Kumar in a joint statement.
From an investor perspective, Octobotics’ focus on specific, high-risk inspection use cases was a key driver behind the investment. “Octobotics is addressing clearly defined maintenance challenges within critical infrastructure,” said Dr. Anjan Ray, Investment Partner at Navam Capital. “Their vertically integrated technology stack, combined with a scalable distribution model, offers a credible pathway to serving the global inspection market.”
Conventional inspection methods in industrial environments often require human inspectors to operate in corroded zones, confined spaces, elevated structures, or areas with complex geometries—conditions that pose safety risks and limit inspection frequency. Octobotics aims to address these challenges by automating hazardous inspection tasks and converting field-level measurements into actionable asset integrity insights.
Its robotic platforms use sensor-driven workflows to capture high-fidelity inspection data, which is then analysed using predictive analytics to enable earlier detection of defects, corrosion, and material degradation. This approach helps operators reduce operational risk, extend asset life, and minimise unplanned downtime by providing a unified, decision-ready view of asset health.
The company’s product portfolio includes PA RailScan, a phased array ultrasonic testing (PAUT)-based system for rail track weld inspection; Weld Sensei, an automated inspection platform designed for precision data acquisition in hazardous environments; and Reach Master, a specialised NDT tool for inspections in hard-to-reach and high-elevation areas.
Both founders bring international operational experience to the venture. They first connected at MERI Kolkata before building careers in global industrial operations—Bhatnagar in maritime automation at Singapore-based BW Maritime, and Kumar as an Operations & Maintenance Engineer at Belgian dredging firm D.E.M.E. Inspired by the “Make in India” initiative, they returned to build field-ready, data-driven inspection solutions for critical infrastructure.
