Nova Spectral AI Raises $2.25M Seed to Cut SWIR Sensor Costs

Nova Spectral AI has raised ₹21.15 crore — roughly $2.25 million — in a seed round led by Shastra VC, with Equirus InnovateX Fund and a group of angel investors joining. The startup claims its technology could cut the cost of short-wave infrared imaging by as much as 100 times compared with existing solutions. That figure is the company's own projection, not a demonstrated result.

Who is behind the company?

Two Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur alumni, Anish Priyadarshi and Sanjeev Kumar, founded Nova Spectral AI. The company is developing a SWIR image sensor chip in India using lead-free colloidal quantum dots and CMOS-compatible manufacturing processes. The CMOS angle matters: it means the sensors could be produced on the same production lines that already make standard chips, which is where the cost-reduction claim comes from.

The bet lands in a sector India is actively trying to build. The financing gives Nova Spectral AI resources to advance its semiconductor work as India expands its domestic deep-tech, defense technology, and semiconductor ecosystem.

What does SWIR imaging actually do?

Short-wave infrared sensors let cameras operate where conventional visible-light imaging fails — through smoke, haze, and in low-light conditions. The company notes these capabilities are particularly relevant for drones and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance platforms, where imaging systems must work across challenging environments.

Today's SWIR technology, the company argues, remains expensive and largely dependent on imported indium gallium arsenide sensors. That import dependence, it says, limits deployment beyond high-end defense and specialized industrial applications. Nova Spectral AI wants to change that price point and expand SWIR imaging into much larger markets. In plain terms: what now costs thousands of dollars per sensor would need to fall to tens of dollars for the company's claim to hold.

Where could the sensors end up?

The target list is broad. Potential applications include:

• Autonomous systems and machine vision
• Robotics
• Wearable devices
• Smartphones
• Automotive platforms
• Drones and defense systems

The company frames all of this around a shift toward what it calls physical AI — autonomous systems that increasingly depend on advanced sensors capable of operating reliably in real-world environments. Better sensing, the argument goes, improves how machines understand and interact with their surroundings. The gap between a working chip and a smartphone-grade component remains the unstated challenge.

What happens next?

Nova Spectral AI plans to use the seed funding to expand its team and develop a field-ready prototype within approximately 18 months. That timeline is the company's own target; the source does not say whether a working prototype exists today. An 18-month runway from seed money is tight for semiconductor development, where fabrication cycles alone can consume months.

The company also credited early support from angel investors including Ashis Nayak, Avijeet Alagathi, Vasant Rao, Jivesh Madan, Shachi Jalote, Saurabh Gunwant, Krishna Jha, Sadhika Agarwal, and Rituraj Chaudhari.

The takeaway: a $2.25 million seed round buys Nova Spectral AI a prototype and a team — not yet proof that a 100x cost reduction survives contact with manufacturing.