IIT Madras-Incubated Viridian Ingni Raises ₹1.47 Crore to Move Rare-Earth-Free EV Motors Towards Pilot Production
Chennai start-up Viridian Ingni Propulsion has raised ₹1.47 crore in a pre-seed round led by Inflection Point Ventures to move its rare-earth-free motors and controllers from prototype to pilot production and ARAI/ICAT certification.
Viridian Ingni Propulsion, a Chennai start-up building electric motors and controllers, including designs that avoid rare-earth magnets, has raised ₹1.47 crore in a pre-seed round led by Inflection Point Ventures (IPV). The round was reported on 30 October.
It is a small cheque by any standard. But the problem the company is working on, India's near-total dependence on imported rare-earth magnets for electric motors, has become one of the most strategic questions in the country's clean-energy and defence supply chains.
The company
Viridian Ingni was founded in February 2024 by Sriram G. and is incubated at the IIT Madras Research Park in Chennai. It designs electric motors and their controllers for electric vehicles, drones, robotics and industrial machinery. Its motors for e-rickshaws and two-wheelers are designed not to use rare-earth metals.
The company is still pre-revenue and runs with a five-member, engineering-led team. It says it holds letters of intent for 350 motors from two customers, Crop Xplore and Yali Mobility.
What the money is for
The funding is meant to take Viridian from prototypes to pilot production. According to the company, it will be spent on:
- tooling and dies for motor stamping,
- a pilot production line and a small manufacturing facility, and
- planned ARAI/ICAT testing and homologation work, alongside motor-controller firmware validation.
Homologation is often where hardware start-ups stall, because it takes money and time before any revenue arrives. Funding that specifically covers testing and tooling suggests the company is aiming for its first commercial deliveries rather than more lab work.
IPV co-founder Mitesh Shah said the start-up is addressing a gap in India's EV and propulsion ecosystem by developing its technology stack in-house.
Why rare-earth-free motors matter
India has responded on several fronts. The government has backed domestic magnet manufacturing, and companies have announced rare-earth magnet plants and recycling projects. But the other route is to design motors that need no rare earths at all, using alternatives such as ferrite magnets, reluctance designs or induction machines, and to recover performance through smarter motor geometry and control electronics.
That second route is where start-ups such as Viridian are placing their bets. E-rickshaws and two-wheelers are a sensible starting market: they are high-volume, price-sensitive and less demanding than performance cars, and India is one of the world's largest markets for both.
Beyond vehicles
Viridian's pitch extends to drones, robots and industrial machines, all of which also rely on compact electric motors. That ties the company to India's wider push for indigenous drone and robotics supply chains, where motors are frequently imported. The company uses different architectures for different applications: its rare-earth-free work should not be read as a claim that every product in its portfolio avoids rare-earth magnets.
What to watch
The milestones are concrete: completing ARAI/ICAT certification, converting letters of intent into orders, and getting the pilot line running. If those happen, Viridian will be in a position to raise a larger seed round and take on the bigger question of whether rare-earth-free motors can match imported designs on cost and efficiency at scale.
Sources
- https://www.finsmes.com/2026/10/viridian-ingni-propulsion-raises-approx-175k-in-pre-seed-funding.html
- https://india.entrepreneur.com/business-news/funding-roundup-viridian-ingni-venttup-raise-capital
- https://www.ciol.com/funding-acquistion-merger/viridian-ingni-raises-147-cr-for-ev-motor-pilot-production-12769573
- https://theheadandtale.com/ai-emerging-tech/viridian-ingni-propulsion-raises-pre-seed-funding-led-by-inflection-point-ventures/
- https://www.outlookbusiness.com/corporate/bajaj-to-halve-ev-output-ather-and-tvs-cut-back-as-china-curbs-magnet-supply
- https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2025/8/28/how-rare-earth-shortages-are-stalling-indias-burgeoning-ev-sector
- https://enablersinvestment.com/viridian-ingni-propulsion-has-raised-inr-1-47-cr-in-a-pre-seed-funding-round-led-by-inflection-point-ventures/