Deeptech funding gathers speed; UAVs for modern warfare
The coming year could see VCs writing larger cheques to deeptech companies. Apollyon Dynamics is building high-speed kamikaze drones. In the forests of Jawadhu Hills, a low-cost sanitation solution is giving tribal school children safety and dignity.
Hello,
No Christmas cheer for Bitcoin.
While traditional markets are marking the final days of 2025 with a burst of seasonal optimism, the world’s largest cryptocurrency has barely stirred—trading around $87,370, and showing little sign of life.
There’s more. This year set a new record for crypto heists, with cybercriminals stealing $2.7 billion in crypto. The biggest hack by far was the breach at Dubai-based crypto exchange Bybit, where hackers stole around $1.4 billion in crypto.
Meanwhile, the US stock market is closing the books on a third straight year of double-digit percentage gains. According to analysts, a fourth stellar year in 2026 may be a tall order, requiring strong earnings, a dovish Federal Reserve and strong AI spending.
The benchmark S&P 500 is now up over 17% in 2025 with a few trading days left, after rising 23% in 2024 and 24% in 2023.
In other news, British oil giant BP will sell a majority 65% shareholding in Castrol to Stonepeak for $6 billion, valuing the lubricants business at $10.1 billion. The deal comes as BP looks to launch a strategic reset, including a green strategy U-turn and the divestment of $20 billion of assets by the end of 2027.
ICYMI: A year in review—Who had it best and worst in Asia in 2025.
This Christmas, you can track Santa Claus’ whereabouts with the help of AI!
With tracking tools like the NORAD Santa Tracker and Google’s Santa Tracker, now everyone can know when Father Christmas comes to town.
Trust AI to spread some holiday magic!
Merry Christmas!
In today’s newsletter, we will talk about
- Deeptech funding gathers speed
- UAVs for modern warfare
- Reimagining sanitation in tribal schools
Here’s your trivia for today: Which popular Christmas beverage is also called “milk punch?”
Outlook 2026
Deeptech funding gathers speed
The common refrain by venture capital firms this year was that they would step up investments in the deeptech sector. Data from market intelligence platform Tracxn indicates that VCs have delivered on this promise. And the momentum is expected to pick up in the coming year.
According to data from Tracxn, deeptech companies raised $1.57 billion across 265 deals year-to-date, compared to $1.24 billion raised in 2024 across 388 rounds—indicating that, while investors were more cautious this year, they wrote bigger cheques to deeptech startups.
Gathering momentum:
- A slew of Indian venture capital firms raised new funds in 2025—Accel closed a fund at $650 million, while Nexus Venture Partners closed a fund at $700 million, proving that India’s VC ecosystem is flush with cash.
- A string of deeptech-focused funds also raised new capital stockpiles this year. In July, Yali Capital raised Rs 893 crore to fund deeptech startups. Many deeptech-focused funds also raised maiden funds in 2025, demonstrating that capital flow into IP-driven companies is expected to take off next year.
- Deeptech investments are expected to gradually rise in the coming years as more companies mature and raise larger rounds of funding. Based on this year’s trends, semiconductors, artificial intelligence, and space-tech are expected to see rising investor interest.
Startup
UAVs for modern warfare
In 2024, BITS Hyderabad students Jayant Khatri and Sourya Choudhury teamed up for the institute’s drone racing and robotics competition team.
After participating in both national and international events, they saw the growing importance of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in military operations, such as Operation Sindoor, which sparked the idea to build something bigger. That demo led to the first order of Apollyon Dynamics, their defence tech startup founded in 2025.
Defence tech revolution:
- CEO Jayant Khatri says the team completed R&D for its first kamikaze drone in just two months. The company offers four primary product lines: trainer drones, long-range endurance platforms, autonomous multirole UAVs, and kamikaze systems.
- Apollyon Dynamics now supplies drones to the Border Security Forces’ (BSF) School of Drone Warfare and works with several private defence partners as the manufacturing provider—positioning itself as a B2B and B2G startup.
- Apollyon Dynamics raised Rs 4 crore in a pre-seed round led by Naandi Ventures in 2025. The startup is using the funds for R&D and hiring. It plans to raise another round next year to expand its manufacturing capabilities.
Social Impact
Reimagining sanitation in tribal schools
Around 2021, documentary filmmaker Vishnupriya was working on a sanitation project in rural Tamil Nadu when she came across Nellivasal village, a tribal settlement in the Tirupathur district, where children grew up without access to toilets.
While documenting waste management solutions through the work on her film, ‘Meel’, Vishnupriya, along with fellow architect and friend Barnala Michael, began envisioning building low-cost, eco-friendly toilets for the Nellivasal schools—an initiative that has improved not just health outcomes but also attendance, punctuality, and overall well-being at the nearby school.
News & updates
- Approved: India has granted initial clearance to two regional airlines, alHind Air and FlyExpress, to begin operations, weeks after mass cancellations by the country's largest airline IndiGo brought into focus the lack of competition in the world's fastest-growing aviation market.
- Scrutiny: Italy's antitrust authority (AGCM) ordered Meta Platforms to suspend contractual terms that could shut rival AI chatbots out of WhatsApp, as it investigates the US tech group for suspected abuse of a dominant position.
- Tariff: The US will increase tariffs on Chinese semiconductor imports in June 2027, at a rate to be determined at least a month in advance. But in the meantime, the initial tariff rate on semiconductor imports from China will be zero for 18 months, according to a filing.
Which popular Christmas beverage is also called “milk punch?”
Answer: Eggnog.
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