Mumbai Angels backs defence tech startup Big Bang Boom

Mumbai Angels Network on Friday said it has led a Series A funding round of $1.5 million in defence technology maker Big Bang Boom Solutions (BBBS).

The Chennai-headquartered startup will use the fresh funds to further its technology vertical and to develop an international sales channel, the angel syndicate’s spokesperson told TechCircle.

Founded in 2018 by Praveen Dwarkanath and Shivaraman Ramaswamy, BBBS had previously won a grant of about $400,000 from the Indian government’s Innovations For Defence Excellence (iDEX) programme, in October 2019, the spokesperson added.

Without providing any specifics, the statement said that the startup is currently developing “integrated intellectual properties” for defence and is on track to deliver its systems to the Indian Armed Forces.

According to its website, BBBS’ projects include artificial intelligence-enabled autonomous unmanned tank plugins, “high-explosive” ammunition, a smart fencing system, a combat armour, and an anti-drone defence system.

The total addressable market (TAM) for the startup is the world’s defence budget, the Mumbai Angels spokesperson told TechCircle. It amounts to $1.6 trillion. The serviceable available market (SAM) is about $240 billion, per annum, and the serviceable obtainable market (SOM) is about $3 billion, the spokesperson added.

The founding team had previously worked together at an edtech startup called Accendere, a research capability augmentation company that counts IITs and IIMs in its clientele. The startup was incorporated with a capital of $2,000 and the founders exited at a valuation of $4 million in March 2017.

Launched in 2006, Mumbai Angels Network consists of over 450 members across nine cities, including Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Goa, Pune, Jaipur and Chennai. It has made over 135 investments and exited 30 firms, having spent over Rs 150 crore till date.

Read: Lockdown spurs angel investor platform Mumbai Angels to accelerate dealmaking

The reported deal marks the early-stage investment platform’s twelfth investment disclosure in 2020 -- five firms in April, three in May and three in June.