Debendra Pradhan and Biswajit Swain building Coratia Technologies into India’s deeptech underwater robotics pioneer

Business Remedies | Rajshree Upadhyaya | Coratia Technologies began as a compact but ambitious experiment at NIT Rourkela, where two classmates imagined a different way to look beneath the waves and make underwater work safer, cheaper, and faster. The company was formally incorporated in 2021, and from that modest beginning, the founders set out to build indigenous underwater robots that could inspect hulls, bridges, and underwater pipelines without the logistical cost and human risk of traditional divers.

What the founders built is best described as a family of robotic platforms and analytical services that combine hardware and software into practical offerings. Their core products include Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) and Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs), and around these machines, they layered capabilities such as AI-based NDT inspection, sonar and bathymetry survey, and real-time visual inspection of ship hulls, propellers, and submerged structures. This stack lets Coratia sell not only machines but end-to-end inspection projects and predictive maintenance studies for ports, shipping companies, and infrastructure owners.

The founders have always told the story of wanting to replace slow, expensive human inspections with automated, repeatable data collection and analysis. That narrative found a national audience when Coratia stepped into Shark Tank India to pitch their homegrown robots. On the show, they asked for Rs. 80 lakhs for 1 percent equity – a bold valuation that signaled both confidence and the capital intensity of deeptech hardware. The televised reaction was favourable, and at least one prominent investor matched the asking price on air.

Shark Tank coverage and later write-ups added nuance. Several outlets recorded that while a deal was announced on screen and celebrated by viewers, the paperwork and post-show diligence for hardware startups can be complicated, and some reports later clarified that what appeared on the show did not fully translate into a closed long-term investment. That ambiguity did not slow the startup from focusing on contracts, product development, and partnerships.

Today, Coratia presents itself as an operational deeptech supplier, not a concept. The company’s website outlines services for ships, ports, bridges, and industrial infrastructure and lists project work and demonstrations carried out from their base at the NIT Rourkela incubation centre. More tangibly, Coratia has moved into the realm of large-scale defence and industrial engagement, with media coverage reporting significant contracts that point to active operations and revenue traction beyond the television moment. A recent report highlights a major contract win that underlines the startup’s shift from pitch stage to delivery stage.

What makes the Coratia story compelling is the bridge between academic roots and real-world demand – engineers who saw a repetitive, risky task and chose to build machines, data pipelines, and inspection workflows that cut time and cost. Whether the company’s valuation claims or TV drama proved permanent, the founders have continued to iterate and win work, and the product line of AUVs, ROVs, AI inspection, and sonar survey services remains the visible proof that Coratia is no longer just a pitch but an active player in India’s emerging underwater robotics ecosystem.

Written & Edited By:

Rajshree Upadhyaya