Ethereal Machines secures pre-Series A funding in round led by Blume Ventures

Bengaluru-based deep-tech manufacturing startup Ethereal Machines Pvt. Ltd has raised $1 million (Rs 7 crore) in its pre-Series A funding round led by early-stage venture capital firm Blume Ventures, the startup said in a statement.

The funding round also saw participation from Jitendra Gupta, founder of PayU, Samay Kohli and Akash Gupta of Grey Orange Robotics and Debashish Vanikar of Pidilite Industries.

Ethereal Machines said it will use the capital to expand its sales and distribution network both in India and abroad. It will also add more products to its portfolio, build relations with application partners and develop capabilities to optimise the run time of machines and prevent machine breakdowns.

“With Blume, we have found partners who understand how the hardware ecosystem works. We look forward to equipping more machine shop vendors with our machines and boosting their in-house manufacturing capabilities,” says Kaushik Mudda, co-founder, Ethereal Machines.

The Bengaluru-based startup was founded by Mudda along with Navin Jain. Ethereal Machines develops 5-axis computerised numerical control, or CNC, machines and also makes 3D printers. Their flagship product, Halo, is a hybrid manufacturing machine that combines the functionalities of subtractive and additive manufacturing.

The startup claims that it produces its machines locally and are priced at roughly a third of its competitors. Ethereal Machines said it caters to several verticals in the manufacturing sector and its clients span the aerospace, tools and die, medical, jewellery, automobile, electronics, education, and prototyping sectors. Its current portfolio includes companies such as Grey Orange Robotics, Unacademy, Servify, Tricog Health and Locus.

Mumbai-based Blume Ventures was founded in 2010 by Karthik Reddy and Sanjay Nath. Some of its most recent investments include software-as-a-service marketplace Skillenza and logistics tech startup Locus.