Industrial Automation Magazine India

Ethereal Machines announces US$7.3M funding to help transform India into a manufacturing superpower

Published on : Tuesday 25-07-2023

Ethereal Machines is a leading advanced manufacturing player that builds proprietary multi-axis Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machines in India.

Bengaluru, July 24, 2023 – Ethereal Machines, Indias leading advanced manufacturing player, today announced a funding round of US$7.3 million, which saw participation from Peak XVs Surge, Blume Ventures, Ganapathy Subramaniam, Partner at Celesta Capital; Mathew Cyriac, the former head of Blackstone India; and Lip-Bu Tan, executive chairman of Cadence Design Systems and Chairman of Walden International. Ganapathy Subramaniam and Mathew Cyriac were instrumental in the recent blockbuster IPO of Ideaforge Technology. Finvolve, 9Unicorns, Venture Catalysts and T2D3 Capital also participated in the round.

Ethereal Machines is poised to capture enormous growth opportunities in Indias manufacturing sector, which accounts for 17% of the nations GDP and over 27.3 million workers. The Indian government also continues to push to position India as a global manufacturing hub via several initiatives, such as Make in India, China+1 and the Production-Linked Incentives (PLI), moving towards more automated and process-driven manufacturing. As such, Ethereals advanced precision machining capabilities will cater to high-growth industries where demand for more high-end precision components is increasing.

CNC machines are used widely across many industries as its precision milling works with a variety of raw materials to produce finished parts, giving engineers the ability to create prototypes and commercial products. However, they are extremely expensive and require high-quality engineering to operate in industrial applications.

Ethereals CNC machines use proprietary technology to help manufacturers achieve precision engineering components at scale, and at a faster and more cost-effective rate. Ethereal then re-invests into building factories that produce these precision engineering components, allowing them to capture demand across the manufacturing value chain. On average, Ethereals manufacturing solutions reduce costs for their customers by 30% and production lead times by 40%. Ethereals first factory is based out of Bangalore, India. These factories will be a one-stop solution for manufacturers from their design to prototype to production stages.

Ethereal focuses on supplying much needed precision engineering parts to the aerospace, defence, automobile and healthcare industries. These are industries that have been identified as growth sectors in India and command precision machining – investments in aerospace and defence manufacturing are projected to grow fivefold and reach INR 5 lakh crores by 2047, and Indias space budget for 2023 stands at INR 12,500 crores. The drone manufacturing industry is also expected to reach INR 900 crores by 2024. Furthermore, investments of approximately INR 95,000 crores have been earmarked for the aviation sector in the next four years (2023-2027).

For India to be a superpower, advanced manufacturing is key. India needs to ace the amalgamation of both hardware and software to achieve excellence in precision machining, the foundation of large scale industrialization and to be known as a global manufacturing powerhouse. Ethereal Machines is in a unique position to build supply chain resiliency and increase productivity across key manufacturing factors, and were committed to developing Indias manufacturing value chains to reach global competitiveness. The new funds will enable us to scale our operations and cater to more high-end engineering applications locally and internationally, said Kaushik Mudda, co-founder of Ethereal Machines.