Marine Robotics Startup EyeROV Bags ₹47 Cr Order from Indian Navy to deliver Underwater Remotely operated Vehicles (UWROVs)

EyeROV, India’s pioneering underwater robotics startup, has announced the signing of a landmark ₹47 Cr contract with the Indian Navy for advanced Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicles (UWROVs). The deal strengthens India’s naval capability with field-tested, indigenously built technology.

EyeROV’s UWROVs have been tested in the most demanding environments, from the turbulent seas for deep water missions as deep as 400+ m for underwater volcanic studies to the coldest depths of the Antarctic Sea. These successful tests prove that the Navy receives systems designed for real-world challenges where precision, safety and reliability are paramount.

EyeROV TROUT, a 300m depth rated, is a military grade rugged ROV developed for dual applications of defence as well as commercial. It can deep dive equipped with advanced payloads to carry out multiple missions like underwater surveillance & reconnaissance to monitor naval environments and more.

Commenting on the development, Johns T. Mathai, Co-Founder & CEO, EyeROV, said, “This recognition is a true reward for our dedicated efforts over the past eight years. We sincerely thank the iDEX and Navy teams for their support in fostering advanced indigenous solutions. Our vision has always been to serve the nation by delivering technologies that are at par with global standards.”

EyeROV brings nearly a decade of field experience delivering underwater intelligence in mission-critical projects — from disaster & recovery to dam safety inspections to offshore energy operations and naval operations.

EyeROV’s indigenous technology stack is fully developed in India, reinforcing the nation’s push towards self-reliance in defence. Beyond cost efficiency, EyeROV’s systems deliver operational resilience, strategic autonomy, and global competitiveness — making the company a national asset in India’s defence deep-tech landscape.

Kannappa P., Co-Founder & CTO, EyeROV, added, “For eight years, EyeROV has engineered underwater systems tested in the harshest conditions. This partnership with the Navy is proof that Indian innovation can set benchmarks globally in defence deep-tech.”

Founded in 2017, EyeROV has completed more than 100 successful deployments across India, West Asia, APAC and Europe. The Company has more than 80 customers including some of the most prestigious names like DRDO, Indian Coast Guard, CSIR and NCPOR. Key product portfolio includes EyeROV TUNA (ROV), EyeROV TROUT (ROV), iBoat Alpha (USV) serving sectors like Defence & Security, Hydro & Marine Infrastructure, Disaster Management, Energy, Environmental Conservation. The Company also raised a Pre Series A round of $1.2 million from Unicorn India Ventures last year. EyeROV has been recognised among the top 5 def-tech startups in India and has won the National Startup Award in 2022.

About EyeROV

EyeROV is India’s pioneering deep-tech company specializing in underwater robotics and marine technology solutions. Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Kochi, EyeROV designs, develops, and deploys indigenously built Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) and Unmanned Surface Vessels (USVs) that serve critical applications across Defence & Security, Hydro & Marine Infrastructure, Disaster Management, Energy, and Environmental Conservation. With over 100 successful deployments across India, West Asia, APAC, and Europe, EyeROV has earned the trust of 80+ customers including DRDO, Indian Coast Guard, CSIR, and NCPOR. Recognized among the Top 5 Defence Startups in India, EyeROV continues to drive innovation, delivering mission-critical systems that combine precision, resilience, and cost efficiency. EyeROV’s vision is to empower nations with strategic autonomy in underwater intelligence and contribute to global advancements in marine robotics.

Marine Robotics Deep Tech Startup EyeROV Raises ₹ 10 Crore in Pre-Series A Led by Unicorn India Ventures

• EyeROV is the fastest growing marine robotics deeptech company specialising in underwater drone technology
• The Company aims to revolutionize industries like maritime, defense, energy and infra through its cutting edge unmanned technologies
• The company has successfully introduced India's first commercial underwater drones/ROVs and launched an unmanned surface vehicle (USV), providing solutions in India and the MENA region
• Funds raised will be used to expand in international markets and develop advanced marine robotic products
• The company aims to triple their revenue by the end of this Financial Year and boost sales in both Indian and international markets

EyeROV, a marine robotics deep-tech startup providing products and solutions in the field of underwater domain has raised INR 10 Crore ($1.2M) in a Pre-Series A round led by Unicorn India Ventures. The funds deployed will further strengthen EyeROV's geographical expansion into international markets and develop advanced marine robotics products and solutions to augment EyeROV’s current offerings. 

Founded in 2016 by IIT Alumnus Johns T Mathai and Kannappa Palaniappan P, EyeROV is a pioneering deep-tech company specialising in marine robotics and AI. The Company aims to revolutionise industries such as energy, maritime, defence, and infrastructure through its cutting-edge unmanned technologies.

The company has successfully introduced India's first commercial underwater drones/ROVs and launched an unmanned surface vehicle (USV) that is providing solutions in both India and the MENA region. EyeROV also possesses unique capabilities for inspecting very long tunnels and pipelines and has advanced integration capabilities for specialised payloads.

Commenting on the investment, Anil Joshi, Managing Partner, Unicorn India Ventures, says “Marine robotics is a highly complex subject and developing a drone to inspect underwater infrastructure requires unmanned tech built with precision. Unicorn India has a strong DNA of a deep tech investor as we understand the teh both hardware and software aspect. As we have a strong track record of bringing out highly innovative companies from sectors that are still emerging or relatively new, we believe EyeROV’s products and solutions have a global application.”

EyeROV has seen consistent revenue growth over the past 24 months Year on Year and launched multiple new products and expanded to new industry verticals and geographies and is a leader in underwater ROV-based inspections in India's hydro sector.

With strong customer interest in India, the MENA region, and Europe, particularly in the infrastructure, power, and oil & gas sectors, EyeROV is strengthening its market presence and developing new R&D capabilities to bring unique solutions to the market.

EyeROV is also creating specialised solutions for infrastructure inspections and collaborating with defence R&D labs and forces through the Innovations for Defence Excellence (IDEX) initiative to develop maritime intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) solutions.

Johns T Mathai, CEO, EyeROV says, "With this funding, EyeROV will be able to scale up its sales, R&D, and operations much faster. We have developed unique, differentiated solutions for underwater infrastructure inspections that have been successfully validated in the Indian market and are now ready for global expansion. Unicorn India has supported similar hardware/robotics companies in the past, and we believe this partnership will be highly beneficial."

In FY 2024, EyeROV secured multiple contracts domestically and internationally, expanding its reach through partnerships in India and the GCC region. The company serves esteemed clients such as Tata, Adani, BPCL, DRDO, and the Indian Coast Guard, having completed over 100 underwater inspections.

EyeROV plans to triple its revenue by the end of the financial year by boosting sales in both domestic and international markets. The company is set to undertake more projects in oil & gas, maritime, and infrastructure sectors, and is advancing its efforts to supply products to the Indian defence sector.

Kannappa Palaniappan P, CTO, EyeROV, adds, "This funding will accelerate the development of new products, which have been validated by market studies and numerous industry inquiries."

Meet EyeROV TUNA, India's 1st Commercial Underwater Drone for DRDO Lab, Made By Kerala Startup

Its been little over a year when we talked about a unique Ernakulam, Kerala-based startup, EyeROV, which was incubated at Kochi's Maker Village, and has built a robotic drone that is capable of performing Visual inspection/survey of underwater/ submerged structures. Well now, the startup has re-branded to IROV Technologies and is going places as it has just launched commercial underwater drones by handing over the first vehicle to Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL), a laboratory of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

Called as 'EyeROV TUNA', the vehicle is India’s First Commercial Inspection Class micro ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) that performs visual inspection and surveys of submerged structures. It is a cost-effective underwater rover that works up to a depth of 100m. It can be easily controlled using a laptop or a joystick. A camera fitted on to the underwater drone(ROV), gives a live video feed of the underwater environment. Our product finds a variety of application, which includes ship hull inspection, fish farm inspection, dam inspection, port structure inspection, bridge foundation inspection etc

Backed by Kerala Start-Up Mission (KSUM), oil and gas firm BPCL and the Department of Science and Technology (DST) of government of India, claims the product is the first indigenously-developed commercial underwater drone in the country.



The startup is also said to be bidding for various defence projects and has received its first order from NPOL, where the drone is expected to help the Laboratory in research operations. The first drone was handed over to the NPOL on Friday evening. The product is also useful in various underwater research operations and is expected to be sold to research institutes in this field, said Johns T Mathai, founder of the company.

IROV is founded by Johns T Mathai, IIT Delhi and Kannappa Palaniappan P, IIT Madras Alumnus. Interestingly, Johns has worked in Grey Orange Robotics, which is touted as India's highest funded robotics startup, for a span of 3+ years besides working for Samsung R&D in Bangalore. Kannappa, on other hand, has Industrial experience working in Saint Gobain and National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), an autonomous society under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India.

"Our vision is to disrupt the underwater critical infrastructure inspections industry," said Mathai, who said that the cost of the drone would depend upon the size and features of the equipment. While there are OEMs and companies like Chennai-based Planys Technologies manufacturing underwater drones, this is for the first time it is made commercially available, he averred. the production is mostly outsourced.

The company recently got recognition from BPCL Project Ankur startup scheme and Kerala Startup Mission Idea Grant Scheme. The company has been founded by Johns T Mathai, an IIT-Delhi alumnus and Kannappa Palaniappan P (IIT-Madras). Johns has worked in Samsung R&D, Bengaluru, and Grey Orange Robotics for over three years.
Kannappa has Industrial experience working in Saint Gobain and National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT).
The company also has mentors and advisors who were earlier with DRDO, the Indian Navy and the marine industry. It is now incubated at Maker Village, Kochi, an initiative of Govt of India and Govt of Kerala.

Via ~ Business Standard

Kochi Startup Builds Robotic Drone To Capture Real-Time HD Videos of Underwater Structures

With a large ecosystem of over 4,500 startups, India might be the third largest startup ecosystem in the world. But still, the number of hardware startups in the Indian subcontinent is very less when compared to their software counterparts. Hence, it is not quite often that a new, innovative hardware startup sprouts in the country. But one such startup that has been gaining a lot of traction since the past few months is, Kochi-based EyeROV.

The startup, which is currently pre-incubated at Kochi's Maker Village, has successfully developed an robotic drone that is capable of performing Visual inspection/survey of underwater/ submerged structures. The drone can send real-time video of ships or for that matter any underwater structure for maintenance and repair operations purposes.

The EyeROV drone has been successfully tested on India's first solar ferry at Vaikom and can be navigated up to a depth of 50 meters for taking real-time HD videos of ship hulls, bridge moorings and undersea cables etc.



The light rover, which can be easily controlled using a laptop/joystick, weighs less than 10 kgs and eliminates the need for manual inspection, which is very risky and costly at the same time. The technology can prove to be useful for inspection of dams, ports and nuclear power plants.

The startup founded by IIT alumni Johns T Mathai and Kannappa Palaniappan P recently grabbed eyeballs when it won the India edition of AlphaLab Gear National Hardware Cup. Not only did they walk with a cash prize of Rs 25,000, but the startup also got a chance to represent India in the international finals to be held at Pittsburg USA on April 18 and 19 and compete for a $50,000 grand prize.

About the Founders

While Johns is an Electrical Engineer with a Masters in Computer Technology from IIT Delhi; Kannappa, on the other hand, is a Mechanical Engineer and has a Masters Degree in Ocean Engineering from IIT Madras. During their undergraduate days at College of Engineering, Trivandrum, the duo had engaged in lots of robotics projects and had even won laurels at National Level Techfest. Johns brings on board 3 years of industrial experience (Grey Orange Robotics, Samsung R&D Institute Bangalore), while Kannappa has 2 years in experience (SAINT GOBAIN, NIOT). Together, they believe, they have a keen "eye" for engineering and creativity and EyeROV is example of just that.

[Top Image - EyeROV team with the judges of the Kochi AlphaLab Gear Hardware Cup. (from left) Prof S Rajeev, Thenmozhi Shanmugam, Johns T Mathai, Mr Kannappa Palaniappan P, Jeyash P and Sreekumar V M / Picture Credit - newindianexpress.com]