Augmented reality startup AjnaLens raises $1.5 mn

AjnaLens, an augmented reality (AR) startup owned by Dimension NXG, has raised $1.5 million in a seed funding round led by Maharashtra Defence and Aerospace Venture Fund (MDAVF).

The round saw participation from Mohsin Group and returning high-net-worth individual (HNI) investors such as Nailesh Khimji, Chirayu Khimji and Jay Jesrani, the company said in a statement.

Dimension NXG has raised $2.2 million till date. It last raised angel funding in 2018 from a group of investors including Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma.  

The startup will use the fresh capital to enhance its defence offering, manufacture headsets, acquire talent, improve technology and product capabilities, and for market expansion.

Founded in November 2014 by Pankaj Raut, Abhishek Tomar and Abhijit Patil, AjnaLens leverages technologies such as AR, virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI) to offer mixed reality glasses to augment human intelligence for clients in the space of defence and education.

Its current product line of AjnaLens includes AjnaBolt, which is a military-grade AI-powered mixed reality glasses and AjnaLite/AjnaLite+, a wireless AR/VR headset with 84° field of view holographic clarity.

“AjnaBolt is an excellent solution for enhancing the capability and empowering our armed forces and internal security personnel. The product also has varied applications,” Amey Belorkar, vice president of IDBI Capital Markets and Securities, and investment manager of the Maharashtra Defence and Aerospace Venture Fund, said.

“I am already seeing interesting use cases of AjnaLens in our business training, operations and maintenance. AjnaLens will surely have path-breaking use cases in defence and medical areas,” Khimji said.