Chennai-based startup Fabheads, which is focused on automated manufacturing in the carbon fiber (and other composites) space, has raised Rs 8 crore in a Pre-Series A round led by Inflection Point Ventures.
Existing investors Keiretsu (Chennai Chapter) and Vijay Kedia also participated. The funds raised will be utilised in strengthening R&D team, build global sales and distribution and setting up infrastructure to support growth, a release said.
Fabheads was founded in 2015 by a group of experienced ISRO engineers with experience in product and large project management and pivoted in to composite material 3-D printing business model in 2017.
The startup has since successfully raised two rounds of funding, and is one of the well-recognised startups in the deep-tech hardware space in India.
Inflection Point Venture Co-founder Ankur Mittal said, “Fabheads is a deep-tech startup which has built proprietary technology that can compete with the best in the world.”
“With the founders’ background from ISRO, we believe their expertise in robotics and 3D technology will help the company grow faster. Our network and the funds raised will help them achieve their ambition to scale across the world,” he added.
Fabheads developed India’s first 3D printer capable of printing with continuous fiber materials. It is also the winner of the National Award for Technology Startups (2021) by the Department of Science and Technology, National Startup Awards (2020) in the 3D Printing Category by Startup India, DRDO’s DaretoDream Award (2019), JEC’s Outstanding Innovation in composites award (2018) and the Top Startup in Manufacturing (2018) by CII.
Currently, the startup is offering design and manufacturing services to drones, robotics, and shipping companies across India. A few of its portfolio companies are E-plane Company, Synergy Marine, Planys and ADA (Aeronautical Development Agency). It has also onboarded a couple of Singapore clients and recently started pilot operations across Asia.
Fabheads Founder and CEO Dhinesh Kanagarajand ex-ISRO engineer said, “IPV is one of the few investors who see the value in deep tech hardware startups.”
The biggest value addition made by Fabheads to their clients is offering the flexibility to use their in-house certified raw materials. This factor is of extreme importance in the biomedical and aerospace industries as the clients go through decades of research to certify their materials.
Fabheads serves a large carbon fiber parts market which is a global market of $60 billion with an annual CAGR of 14%. The Indian market alone is $5 billion. Carbon fibers are used to make several high-performance parts from tennis racquets to rockets having applications across Sports, Automotive, Wind Energy Sector, Shipping, Aerospace, etc. and Fabheads plans to slowly expand into more sectors and geographies down the line.
