The autonomy of drones is often limited by the ground operational phase. Although the machine is capable of executing routes, avoiding obstacles, collecting necessary data, and returning without human intervention, it requires external assistance for battery replacement and relaunch. This problem becomes critical for systems designed for continuous perimeter patrolling or pipeline inspection.
The main bottleneck is not the drone itself, but the equipment it lands on. A station is required that can precisely receive the aircraft, connect to it, ensure fast charging without damaging the battery, protect it from bad weather, and transmit status information to the operator managing the fleet of aerial vehicles.
AlgoFET, founded in Bengaluru in December 2023 by Ankit Mishra, an IIT Guwahati graduate, offers a comprehensive solution. This stack includes autonomous docking, battery management, high-power charging, embedded electronics, firmware, and fleet monitoring via a cloud platform.
The detail of this list demonstrates the complexity of engineering tasks. For precise landing, the drone must locate the landing pad within a few centimeters. High-power charging requires rapid energy transfer without cell degradation. Battery management, on the other hand, implies constant monitoring of the status of every battery in the fleet, as a battery failure in flight poses a risk of object falling.
The company develops both hardware and software, and also provides a cloud platform that allows the operator to see the status of the entire fleet, not just one aerial vehicle. Production takes place at a 12,000 square foot facility in Bengaluru.
The company's institutional base is ARTPARK, a robotics and artificial intelligence research park affiliated with the Indian Institute of Science, where it participates in a deep technology startup support program focused on robotics and autonomous systems.
The introduction of restrictions on importing finished drones into India in 2022 almost instantly spurred the emergence of a domestic manufacturing industry. Most resources and capital were directed towards the aerial vehicles themselves, while the ground equipment they depend on received significantly less attention—this is the area where AlgoFET operates.
Potential customers are users who operate drones continuously, not episodically. These include users in defense, agriculture, logistics, surveillance, and infrastructure inspection. The company sells its solutions to both drone manufacturers and end-users, thereby integrating into the supply chain rather than competing with it.
In August 2026, AlgoFET raised 15 crore rupees in a Pre-Series A round from Piper Serica. These funds are intended for developing next-generation products, expanding internal production, creating intellectual property, and increasing presence in the defense, corporate, and international markets.
The metrics demonstrated by the company after this announcement are quite significant for an organization younger than three years. According to the statement, the company has deployed over 2000 units, has orders worth over 4000 units, and holds a backlog valued at approximately 100 crore rupees, collaborating with drone manufacturers and the Indian Army. However, these figures are proprietary company data and have not been independently verified.
The staffing information is more verifiable: according to the company, there are ten employees as of April 2026, and no funding was secured prior to the current round. The position of a company of this size, holding a backlog of 100 crore rupees, is considered unusual, and this information should be viewed as a statement by the company itself, not as an established fact.
