Sarla Aviation gets $10Mn in Accel-backed Series A to make electric flying taxis a reality in India
Summary
Sarla Aviation, an ambitious tech venture that aims to introduce (and make common) electric flying taxis for public transportation in India, has announced a new $10Mn Series A1 round from Accel. This Series A1 round also saw participation from Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal and recently IPOed Swiggy founder Sriharsha Majety.Sarla Aviation, named after Indias first woman pilot Sarla Thukral, had previously raised a seed round of $1.7Mn, also led by Accel. As Indias economy sees rapid expansion, so has expanded the number of vehicles on Indian roads. A real, usable and publicly available electric flying taxi might still be some time away.Co-founded by Adrian Schmidt (a German citizen), Rakesh Gaonkar and Shivam Chauhan, the company aims to showcase its first prototype named Shunya (Hindi for Zero) at an event in New Delhi on January 17.Schmidt says Sarla Aviation is expecting to start commercial operations for airport transfers in Bengaluru soon, and gradually roll into Mumbai, Delhi, and Pune. It also plans to launch a free air ambulance service parallel to commercial ride-sharing services in its first phase.The startup is planning to price its air taxi ticket in parallel to the top price of an Uber or Ola cab in the country.