Rekise Marine Secures $9.7M for Autonomous Naval Tech
Autonomous survey vessel “Swadheen” in the Bay of Bengal
Key Highlights
Bengaluru’s Rekise Marine raises $9.7M from Accel & NKSquared to develop autonomous ships and submarines, boosting India’s naval defense capabilities and maritime self-reliance.
Rekise Marine Secures $9.7M Funding
Bengaluru-based deftech startup Rekise Marine has raised $9.7 million in a funding round, led by Accel and NKSquared, entrepreneur Nikhil Kamath’s investment firm. This capital injection aims to accelerate the development of autonomous ships and submarines for the Indian Navy.
The investment aligns with India’s strategic goals for defense indigenization and maritime self-reliance.
- Additional investors included Sameer Brij Verma (Nexus Venture Partners alumnus) and Sandeep Singhal (WestBridge Capital cofounder).
- Industrial47 and Singularity AMC also participated, alongside founder-operators and family offices.
Pioneering Autonomous Maritime Systems
Rekise Marine, co-founded by naval architect Maitrai Maka and Rear Admiral Shekhar Mital (Retd), specializes in full-stack autonomous maritime systems.
The company’s expertise covers vessel design, systems integration, and proprietary autonomy software. Maka highlighted that autonomous fleets offer strategic advantages by being faster to deploy and produce compared to expensive, crew-intensive conventional vessels.
Key Products & Future Plans
Rekise Marine currently has four products in various stages of deployment or trials:
- Jaldoot: An autonomous surface vessel delivered to DRDO via Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE).
- Swadheen: An autonomous survey vessel that completed sea trials in the Bay of Bengal.
- A man-portable autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) for mine countermeasure missions.
- Jalkapi: A flagship extra-large autonomous underwater vehicle (XLUUV) currently under construction, with field activities expected to commence later this year under the Indian Navy’s iDEX ADITI programme.
The new funds will be used to expand engineering talent across robotics, AI, embedded systems, naval architecture, and sea operations. Rekise Marine plans significant hiring from its current 55 employees across offices in Bengaluru, Goa, and Kolkata.