India, Oct. 27 -- Bengaluru-based Nova Spectral AI has raised Rs.21.2 Cr ($2.3 Mn) in a seed funding round led by Shastra VC, with participation from Equirus InnovateX Fund and angel investors.

Founded earlier this year by IIT Kanpur alum Anish Priyadarshi and Sanjeev Kumar, Nova Spectral is building short-wave infrared (SWIR) image sensor chips using colloidal quantum dots (cQDs) and standard silicon CMOS manufacturing processes.

This will help drones, surveillance systems, robots and autonomous vehicles capture images in low-light conditions and through smoke, haze and dust. It aims to develop an indigenous alternative to conventional infrared sensors, which are largely imported and rely on expensive indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) t...