Aequs raises Rs 448 cr in funding round led by Singapore's Amansa Capital

Precision manufacturing company Aequs Pvt Ltd has raised $54 million (Rs 448 crore) in a fresh round of equity funding led by Singapore-based Amansa Capital, bringing on board five new investors.

Apart from Amansa, the current round includes leading global investment firm Steadview Capital, Catamaran, the family office of Infosys founder N R Narayana Murthy, Sparta Group LLC, the investment office of Desh Deshpande, and other individual investors. This follows an earlier round of Rs 225 crore in April 2023 led by Amicus Capital, which has also participated in the current round through its affiliates.

Aequs, which operates a precision manufacturing platform in aerospace and other verticals, will use the growth capital to launch a new Advanced Technology Products (ATP) vertical. This includes manufacturing high-precision components for some of the world's renowned consumer electronics companies. Aequs supplies precision components and assemblies to most global aerospace companies such as Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier, Safran, Collins, Spirit, Eaton, and Honeywell.

"Aequs has always believed in the Indian manufacturing story and for the past 15 years focused on maximising in-country value add on the products it makes across the industry verticals it operates in," said Aravind Melligeri, chairman and chief executive officer of Aequs. "These partnerships will also help in tapping emerging opportunities due to the realignment of global supply chains and their relocation to India in many instances."

Being the largest aerospace precision components manufacturer in India, Aequs currently derives almost 100 per cent of its revenues from exports. It has built an aerospace-focused forgings-to-assembly integrated manufacturing ecosystem at India's first Aerospace Special Economic Zone in Belagavi, Karnataka. It operates the largest aerospace machining capacity in India of over 1.2 million machining hours per year at this campus. Apart from operating 12 aerospace-focused, fully owned and joint-venture units in Belagavi, US (Paris, Texas), and France (Cholet), Aequs has five more operating units in Karnataka's Koppal and Hubballi cities for its non-aerospace businesses.

Over the years, Aequs has made significant investments in building manufacturing infrastructure and capabilities across industry verticals. The firm said it is well positioned to capture the surging interest from global customers in Indian manufacturing given its proven track record in precision engineering and large capacities on the ground.

Ambit Private Ltd was the exclusive investment banker for this transaction.