LAT Aerospace, the Indian aviation startup co-founded by Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal, acquired Sharang Shakti, a Gurugram-based early-stage company that builds anti-drone systems, Goyal announced on 24 February 2026. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The acquisition is LAT Aerospace's first and marks its entry into defence technology. Goyal described it as the company's first move toward building defence capabilities developed in India, alongside its long-term plan to build civil aircraft.
LAT said it would build Sharang Shakti's capabilities in-house and deploy them over time in both defence and civil programmes. The companies did not say how many people joined LAT or what roles Sharang Shakti's founders would take. Entrackr said the purchase would strengthen LAT's work on autonomous systems, defence electronics and aerospace-grade control technology.
What Sharang Shakti built
Sharang Shakti was founded in 2023 by Karan Goyal, Chirag Singla, Gaurav Kumar, Jitendra Singh and Rishabh Choudhary, who are IIT Delhi alumni, according to Inc42. Karan Goyal is its chief executive. The company works on airspace surveillance and on stopping threats from small drones.
MediaNama listed three products. vajR Hangar is an interceptor drone that uses machine learning to track rogue drones and is designed to destroy them by physical impact. hantR is a drone that detects and tracks threats at short range and captures them with a net launcher. The company is also building a low size, weight and power early-warning radar for detecting micro-drones.
Karan Goyal said defence had been the company's founding mission and that the deal removed obstacles to pursuing it, Outlook Business reported. Inc42 had included the startup in its list of 30 startups to watch in November 2024. Sharang Shakti's funding, if any, was not reported.
“By bringing Sharang Shakti into LAT, we are building these capabilities in-house, from first principles, with the intent to deploy them across both defence and civil programs over time.”
Why LAT Aerospace is buying
In his post on X, Deepinder Goyal argued that civil aviation and defence are often seen as separate sectors but rely on the same core technology, listing autonomy, perception, sensing, navigation, guidance and control. He said LAT would build those capabilities step by step.
Surobhi Das, LAT's co-founder, who leads the company, described the deal as a first step toward defence capabilities built on the same core technologies the startup uses for civil aviation, according to Outlook Business.
The buyer's own aircraft plans
LAT Aerospace was founded in January 2025 by Das, a former chief operating officer of Zomato, and Goyal, who is a non-executive co-founder and its lead investor. It is building short take-off and landing aircraft designed to fly from small air-stops rather than full airports, with the aim of offering frequent, low-cost regional flights in India.
Goyal has said the goal is take-off and landing within about 20 metres. In July 2025 he announced that LAT was setting up a propulsion research team in Bengaluru to develop a gas turbine engine made in India, MediaNama reported.
In January 2026 the company's Lat One v0.1 prototype demonstrated an ultra-short take-off and landing but crashed later in the test. LAT said the crash was expected as part of iterative testing because simulations had already shown structural weaknesses, Outlook Business reported.
The money behind LAT
Reports on LAT's funding vary. Inc42 said Goyal invested $20 million (about Rs 174 crore) in early 2025 while the company was in stealth, and Entrackr put the total invested so far at about $20 million, adding that the company was reported to be in talks to raise a further $50 million. Outlook Business said LAT had announced a $20 million tranche within a broader $50 million commitment, of which Goyal had personally committed $25 million.
The deal came about a month after Goyal stepped down as group chief executive of Eternal, Zomato's parent company, in January 2026. He said at the time that he wanted to pursue higher-risk ideas that fell outside the scope of a listed company.
