Coratia Technologies Is Building the Robots That Guard

Coratia Technologies did not emerge from a startup incubator or a corporate innovation lab. It grew out of a government challenge issued to engineering students at NIT Rourkela.

Co-founders Debendra Pradhan and Biswajit Swain, both mechanical engineering graduates of the class of 2017, were brought together by a Ministry of Earth Sciences open challenge asking students to build robots that could navigate underwater autonomously, use computer vision and remote sensing to avoid obstacles, and hit a target with a projectile.

"The novelty factor drew us in. Neither the government nor any private body had organised any such challenge relating to underwater robotics before. Back then, you would rarely find research in this space even at top engineering institutes," Pradhan says.

The pair came first nationally. The following year they entered the Singapore Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Challenge and ranked second against teams from across India and the world.

"I take pride in saying that we fought in an open competition against the best of the best. The problem statements in these challenges were even harder than what we encounter in the real world," he says.

Even after moving into corporate careers, neither founder could shake the feeling that their university work had pointed toward a real and underserved market. Coratia Technologies was formally incorporated in 2021 out of that conviction.

The company has since raised Rs 22 Cr from investors including Piper Serica Angel Fund, MGF Kavachh, and Pontaq Ventures, along with grants from multiple government bodies. Its most significant milestone to date: a Rs 66 Cr contract under the Ministry of Defence's iDEX scheme to supply underwater robots to the Indian Navy.

Coratia has built a portfolio of four core products, each designed for a specific operational environment and use case.

Jalasimha is the most advanced. A military-grade remotely operated vehicle built for defence applications, it dives to 300 metres, operates in both clear and murky waters, and carries sensors including sonar and laser scaler alongside a robotic arm capable of manipulating objects underwater. It is designed for high endurance in rough conditions and can host multiple payloads for surveillance, data collection, and positioning. Deployed with the Indian Navy, it has applications in underwater warfare, mine detection, intrusion spotting, and salvage operations.

Jaladuta, the company's first product, is built for civilian and industrial use in inland areas, monitoring dams, bridges, and underwater structures for corrosion, cracks, and defects at depths of up to 150 metres.

Oceanaus is a more compact and lightweight modular robot, allowing operators to configure the payloads they need for specific tasks without carrying unnecessary equipment.

Navya is an autonomous surface vehicle, a robotic boat designed for hydrographic surveys and bathymetric studies of river beds, lake beds, and ocean floors.

All three ROVs are tethered, connected to a surface system by a cable that enables real-time data communication. The operator can receive live data and update the robot's instructions at any point, while the system operates entirely offline to minimise cybersecurity exposure.

"We deploy our robots in the ocean to carry out surveys, collect samples, and do pre-emptive remote sensing to ward off any potential threat," Pradhan says. "These robots can perform tasks beyond the capabilities of a human diver."

Coratia operates under a dual model.

For defence agencies, it is a direct sales arrangement: the robot is sold, training is provided, and the client's own personnel operate it on-site. For civilian and industrial clients, Coratia offers its robots on a contractual services basis, deploying its own team to the site to carry out inspections.

Beyond the Indian Navy, the company is working on projects with the Coast Guard and has built a client base that includes Indian Railways, Steel Authority of India Limited, Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Tata Steel, and Hindalco.

Pradhan declined to share specific revenue figures, noting that the company is focused on R&D and defence contracts at this stage rather than aggressively scaling commercial projects.

"We have a lot of repeat demand from our existing clients but right now our major focus is on R&D and defence contracts, so we are not able to take up all the contracts coming our way. We intend to expand soon and cater to all the demand that is coming our way," he says.

Scaling a deep-tech hardware business in a niche that barely existed a decade ago is not straightforward.

Talent is the first constraint. With a team of 25, including 20 full-time employees, finding people with relevant underwater robotics experience is genuinely difficult. There is no existing pipeline of candidates because there was no existing industry to train them.

"Whoever joins our company would not have got the relevant experience anywhere because it is a niche segment," Pradhan acknowledges.

Capital availability is the second. Even as deep-tech attracted growing investor interest in 2025, funding inflows into the sector remain far behind e-commerce and fintech. The government has moved to address this through the Rs 1 lakh Cr RDI fund and streamlined defence procurement to promote indigenisation, but the gap persists.

The broader opportunity, however, continues to grow. India's undersea robotics market is currently worth $108.86 Mn, growing at 18.27% annually toward $309.60 Mn by 2032. The global marine robotics market stands at $3.5 Bn. Coratia competes domestically with Planys Technologies and EyeROV, but its defence credentials and the Navy contract give it a meaningful edge in the most strategically significant part of the market.