Brands
Deepinder Goyal in talks to invest $1M in drone startup Kalam Labs
Zomato founder may join $5–7M funding round for stratospheric UAV developer
MUMBAI: Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal is reportedly in advanced discussions to invest around $1 million (Rs 9 crore) of his personal wealth in Kalam Labs, a Lucknow-based startup developing near-space drones. The company is currently raising a larger funding round estimated between $5 million and $7 million, according to reports.
Founded in 2018 by BITS Pilani graduates Harshit Awasthi, Sashakt Tripathi and Ahmad Faraaz, Kalam Labs initially started as an educational technology platform before pivoting to the aerospace and defence sector. The company now focuses on developing advanced unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) designed for high-altitude operations.
The startup’s drones are designed to operate in the stratosphere, significantly higher than typical commercial UAVs. According to the founders, the drones have minimal thermal signatures and low radar cross-sections, making them difficult to detect. They also claim the systems can deliver capabilities comparable to mini fighter jets while maintaining the manufacturing costs of traditional drones.
Investor interest in India’s drone and defence technology sector has grown in recent years, particularly as autonomous systems gain strategic importance in modern security operations.
Kalam Labs has already attracted backing from venture capital firms including Lightspeed Venture Partners and Y Combinator. The startup also gained wider visibility after appearing on Shark Tank India, where it secured investment from Aman Gupta, and through a technical collaboration for the aerial action film Fighter.
The potential investment reflects Goyal’s increasing focus on frontier technologies through his personal investments. He has backed several ventures across space, aerospace, health, and hardware innovation.
His notable investments include Pixxel, a space technology company where he reportedly invested $25–30 million, Temple, a wearable technology startup that recently raised $54 million from Vy Capital and others, LAT Aerospace, focused on specialised aviation engineering, and Continue, a research-driven venture exploring longevity and human health.
The ongoing funding round for Kalam Labs is also expected to include participation from Globaz Technologies, as the startup looks to scale its manufacturing capacity and research and development capabilities.
Brands
Godrej clarifies ‘GI’ identifier after logo similarity debate
Says GI is not a logo, will not replace Godrej signature across products.
MUMBAI: In a branding storm where shapes did the talking, Godrej is now spelling things out. Godrej Industries Group (GIG) has issued a clarification on its newly introduced ‘GI’ identifier, addressing questions around its purpose and design following a wave of online criticism. At the centre of the debate were two concerns: whether the new mark replaces the long-standing Godrej logo, and whether its geometric design mirrors other corporate identities.
The company has drawn a clear line. The Godrej signature logo, it said, remains unchanged and continues to be the sole logo across all consumer-facing products and services. The ‘GI’ mark, by contrast, is not a logo but a corporate group identifier intended for use alongside the Godrej signature or company name, and aimed at stakeholders such as investors, media and talent rather than consumers.
The need for such a distinction stems from the 2024 restructuring of the broader Godrej Group into two separate business entities. With both continuing to operate under the same Godrej name and signature, the identifier is positioned as a way to differentiate the Godrej Industries Group at a corporate level.
The rollout, however, triggered a broader conversation on design originality. Critics pointed to similarities between the GI mark’s geometric composition and logos used by companies globally, raising questions about distinctiveness.
Responding to this, GIG said its intellectual property and legal review found that such overlaps are common in minimalist, geometry-led design systems. Basic forms such as circles and rectangles appear across dozens of brand identities worldwide, the company noted.
It added that the identifier emerged from an extensive design process and was chosen for its simplicity, allowing it to sit alongside the Godrej signature without competing visually. While acknowledging that elemental shapes may appear less distinctive in isolation, the group emphasised that the mark is part of a broader identity system that includes a custom typeface, sonic branding and other proprietary elements.
Following legal and ethical assessments, the company said it found no impediment to using the identifier, reiterating that the GI mark is a corporate tool not a consumer-facing symbol.
In short, the logo isn’t changing but the conversation around it certainly has.
