New Delhi, July 10 -- IndiGo Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of homegrown airline IndiGo, has made the first close of its maiden fund at Rs 450 crore ($52.6 million) and made its debut investment.
The VC firm has approved its first investment in Jeh Aerospace, an aerospace startup focused on high-precision aerospace and defence manufacturing. It didn't disclose the amount.
The announcement comes after VCCircle reported in April that Jeh Aerospace was looking to raise as much as Rs 100-150 crore in a new funding round. Last year, the company had raised seed funding from US-based VC firm General Catalyst.
IndiGo Ventures had launched its maiden VC fund in August 2024 with regulatory approval from SEBI to raise Rs 600 crore. The fund is focused on investing in early-stage startups driving innovation in aviation and allied sectors.
It is investing in companies at the pre-Series A to Series B stages, with a focus on long-term strategic alignment. It is primarily investing in consumer startups that have a touchpoint in the passenger journey, such as travel, lifestyle, hospitality, and transportation, among others.
Jeh Aerospace was founded by Vishal Sanghavi and Venkatesh Mudragalla, who are alumni of Tata's aerospace joint ventures with Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Sikorsky. The startup operates in the aerospace component supply chain segment and offers precision engineering, manufacturing, and digital integration services.
Within its first year of operations, Jeh Aerospace claims to have scaled to a 100-member team of specialized engineers and technicians, delivered 100,000 flight-critical aeroengine components and precision tools meeting AS9100 standards, and secured $100 million in long-term contracts with global aerospace companies.
"By combining our technical expertise and global footprint, this partnership will propel the use of next-generation technology in the aerospace and aviation sector," said Pieter Elbers, chief executive officer at IndiGo, on the VC arm's investment in Jeh Aerospace.
Sanghavi, co-founder and CEO at Jeh Aerospace, said the company is "forging a future-ready aerospace ecosystem by leveraging India's exceptional talent, advanced manufacturing, and AI-driven digital platforms".
"This investment empowers us to scale production capacity to meet growing demand from our global customers, ensuring flawless, on-time delivery of high-precision components," Sanghavi added.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.