Why Optimized is an attractive investment bet for Yohan and Michelle Poonawalla
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Driven by Central government’s push for indigenisation, Ahmedabad-based Optimized Solutions, a company in which India’s leading industrialists and business leaders Yohan and Michelle Poonawalla have recently invested, expects its order book to surge by 300% over the next two years.
A self-described “sovereign-tech” company, Optimized specialises in technology, engineering and manufacturing capabilities in defence, space and nuclear sectors, with a vision to advance India's strategic autonomy through indigenous innovation.
“Our focus is clear. It is on sovereign tech - to develop space, nuclear, and defence technologies that other countries do not provide to India. We believe that in the next three to four years, we'll be one of the most dominant players in this combined category”, says Sandeep G. Shah, founder and MD of Optimized Group.
The company is into the design and manufacture of satellite platforms across LEO, MEO, and GEO classes. Its integrated facilities support structural assembly, payload integration, harnessing, and pre-flight readiness with aerospace-grade quality controls. In defence, Optimized is capable of designing and integrating end-to-end Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) systems combining airborne, ground, and maritime sensors with secure data links and AI-driven analytics. The company offers instrumentation, radiation monitoring, and control systems for nuclear power plants, research reactors, and strategic infrastructure facilities.
Optimized has been associated with Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) since the days of Chandrayan Mission. The company has also worked with Nuclear Power Corporation of India, Department of Atomic Energy, Bhaba Atomic Research Centre, etc. “We supplied to them everything which was otherwise not available to them. We offered them radiofrequency (RF) injection systems, phase modulations for RF… “, Shah says.
The company has been finding it difficult to fund its research until the Central government introduced a combination of startup policies and changes to defence procurement procedure in 2016. “This was a game changer because it exempted startups from meeting the prescribed financial eligibility criteria while also them higher priority under defence procurement procedure”, Shah said.
The company launched a wholly owned subsidiary, Optimized Electrotech Pvt Ltd, in 2017 to avail itself of startup benefits. Once it secured design patents, it began receiving government support under the IDEX (Innovations for Defence Excellence) framework which aims to foster innovation and technology development in defence and aerospace by engaging innovators and entrepreneurs to develop technologically advanced solutions for the modernization of Indian military.
Optimized Solutions targets 300% order book growth as sovereign-tech demand rises
Optimized has also won Aditi (Acing Development of Innovative Technologies with iDEX) challenge, which is designed to strengthen the capabilities of Indian startup and help them make the country’s defence forces more self-reliant.“In the last two years or so, we have moved into the league where we actually work directly with the Army, Navy, Air force as well as the defence PSUs”, Shah says.
As a group, Optimized Solutions reported revenues of Rs 93 crore in FY26. Its current order book, with an 18-month execution timeline, is worth Rs 140 crore. “We are looking at a growth of at least 300% over the next two years, as our technologies are at TRL(technology readiness level) 6 and TRL 7 and it will take no more than 12 months to take them it to TRL 8”, Shah says. TRL8 indicates that technology development has been qualified through testing and demonstration in its final form under operational conditions.
“We should at least be a Rs 1000 crore company by 2030. It also means that we will already be exporting both defence and space products by then. Our new manufacturing plant would have come up, and we would have at least 150,000 ft of clean room facilities for electronics and space manufacturing. In terms of revenues, I do believe that we will be in the very high triple-digits if not a four-digits by that point”, he adds.