LAT Aerospace, a firm backed by Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal, has acquired defence robotics startup Sharang Shakti. Goyal announced the move as a step towards building indigenous defence and civil aviation capabilities in India.
LAT Aerospace, backed by Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal, has acquired Sharang Shakti, an early-stage defence robotics startup based in Gurgaon.
Goyal on Building Indigenous Capabilities
Announcing the development, Goyal wrote on X, “This is our first move toward building indigenous defence capabilities alongside our long-term mission of developing next-generation civil aviation platforms from India.”
He noted that civil aviation and defence are often viewed as separate sectors. “But the core technology stack is shared across autonomy, perception, sensing, navigation, guidance, and control systems.”
By bringing Sharang Shakti into LAT, he said they are building these capabilities in-house, from first principles, with the intent to deploy them across both defence and civil programs over time. “Slowly but surely,” his X post concludes, reaffirming his commitment.
Background: Goyal’s Departure from Eternal
In January 2026, Deepinder Goyal resigned as the Group Chief Executive Officer of Eternal, Zomato’s parent company.
Goyal was set to transition to the role of Vice Chairman on the board of directors, subject to shareholder approval.
Goyal stated that his decision to step away from the executive role stemmed from a desire to pursue high-risk exploration and experimentation.
In a letter to the shareholders, he noted that these new ideas were better pursued outside of a public company framework. “Of late, I have found myself drawn to a set of new ideas that involve significantly higher-risk exploration and experimentation,” Goyal had said.
He added that if these ideas belonged inside the strategic scope of the company, he would have pursued them within the organisation, but noted that Eternal deserves to remain focused and disciplined. He had emphasised that the transition allows the company to remain sharply focused while providing him the space to explore ideas that do not fit the risk profile of Eternal. (ANI)
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)