Thermax, the Pune-based listed engineering company, agreed on 27 February 2026 to take majority control of Exactspace Technologies, a Bengaluru startup that builds AI software for industrial plants. In a stock exchange filing, Thermax said it had signed a share subscription and share purchase agreement and a shareholders' agreement with Exactspace, its promoters and its existing investors to acquire a further 35.83% of the company on a fully diluted basis.
Thermax will pay Rs 30.48 crore (about $3.4 million) in cash, subject to transaction adjustments. Before the deal it held 15.17% of Exactspace, which it treated as an associate company. The purchase lifts its holding to 51% and makes Exactspace a subsidiary.
The agreements also give Thermax the right to acquire the remaining 49% after three years, subject to conditions set out in the contracts. Thermax said no government or regulatory approvals were needed. The 51% stake was acquired on 9 April 2026, according to a later filing.
What Exactspace built
Exactspace Technologies Private Limited was incorporated on 14 December 2017 and is registered in Bengaluru's Domlur area. Its main product is Pulse, a platform that combines machine-learning models that learn how equipment behaves with engineering knowledge of industrial processes, to help plant operators make decisions and avoid unplanned failures.
When it raised its seed round in 2022, the company said Pulse was deployed at more than 60 plants worldwide in thermal power, oil and gas and other industrial sectors. It was also working with the Indian Navy through the Ministry of Defence's iDEX programme and had been picked for the digital track of Shell's E4 startup programme in 2021, according to iamrenew.
Thermax's filing described the business as developing AI-based industrial internet of things solutions for Thermax's manufacturing customers. Exactspace reported turnover of Rs 6.21 crore (about $700,000) in the year to March 2025, up from Rs 5.51 crore in 2024 and Rs 5.52 crore in 2023.
Why Thermax is buying
In its filing Thermax said owning Exactspace would let it offer end-to-end support for customers' assets and strengthen its services business.
It listed the areas Exactspace's software will cover: AI-based predictive maintenance, process optimisation, improving asset uptime and lifespan, and analytics-driven analysis of failures. Because Thermax already held a stake, the deal is a related-party transaction, though the filing said Thermax's promoter group had no interest in Exactspace.
A long-standing investor takes over
Thermax has backed Exactspace since its seed round. In February 2022 Exactspace raised about $1.4 million (Rs 10 crore) in a round led by Thermax, to expand its industrial software and move into North America. Chief executive Rahul Raghunathan said at the time that the partnership went beyond capital, and Thermax's then managing director Ashish Bhandari described the investment as a step to add to the group's digital capabilities.
No other investors in Exactspace were named in the reports, and the startup's headcount was not disclosed. Thermax's filing referred to Exactspace's promoters and existing investors as sellers in the transaction but did not say how much each would receive.
What comes next
The deal is a cash purchase of a minority stake that tips Thermax into control, with a path to full ownership. The price for the remaining 49% was not disclosed and will be set under the terms of the agreements when Thermax exercises its right after three years.
Exactspace's revenue has been broadly flat over the three years disclosed in the filing, at between Rs 5.5 crore and Rs 6.2 crore a year. Thermax did not say whether it plans to change the startup's management or keep it operating under its own name.
For now Exactspace becomes part of Thermax's group, and its software will be offered to Thermax's manufacturing customers as part of Thermax's services offering. Motilal Oswal reported the transaction on 28 February, valuing the additional stake at Rs 30.48 crore.
