Apollyon Dynamics Pivots from Drones to Defencetech, Eyes $5 Million Seed Round

Hyderabad-based Apollyon Dynamics has made one of the boldest pivots in Indian defencetech this year: it has stopped building regular drones entirely to become a full-stack defencetech company serving the Indian military. The startup, founded in May 2025 by Jayant Khatri (Co-founder and CEO, aged 21) and Sourya Choudhury, sold drones worth more than Rs 1.5 crore last year before walking away from the segment.

Khatri says the conventional drone market became a race to the bottom: too crowded, with assembly substituting for real engineering. The rebuilt portfolio centres on three systems — Nightshade, a jet-powered platform configurable as a target drone, decoy or loitering munition (the company claims it was the first in India to launch a jet-powered system from the roof of a car); Ahuti Mk II, an interceptor drone that reached 498 kmph, certified by the India Book of Records as the fastest multirotor drone in India, and developed under a Make II programme with defence partners; and Project Piranha, a marine-based unmanned system still under wraps.

The startup plans to begin supplying pilot batches of Nightshade's target-drone variant to the Indian Army by December, with loitering-munition trials expected next year. It has around 20 full-time employees, two manufacturing labs in Hyderabad, and counts Raphe mPhibr and Dhruva Space as customers for its Ahuti interceptors. Advisor M R M Babu, who led DRDO's Agni-V missile programme, is helping with hiring and programme planning.

Apollyon raised a $480,000 pre-seed round in June 2026, led by Naandi Ventures, and is now looking to raise $5 million in a seed round within the next six months. Its stated ambition: cruise-missile-class systems carrying thousands of kilograms at Mach 1 by 2030.