From India to Tartu and Back
Velmenni raises 3.3 mln euros to scale its light-based WiFi alternative
Velmenni, a deep-tech startup that took its early developmental steps in Estonia’s startup ecosystem, has raised ₹30 crore (approximately €3.3 million) in Pre-Series A funding to scale its light-based wireless communication technologies globally.
The funding round was led by deep-tech investor pi Ventures, with participation from MountTech Growth Fund-Kavachh and Apekso.
For the Estonian tech community, Velmenni is a familiar name. Founded by Deepak Solanki, the company famously joined the Tartu-based hardware accelerator Buildit in 2014 and leveraged Estonia’s e-Residency program to establish a European holding company, Velmenni OÜ.
The startup first captured global attention in the Nordics when it fought its way to the final four of the Slush 100 Pitching Competition in Helsinki in November 2015. Representing Estonia on the main stage, their viral pitch for “Li-Fi”—internet transmitted through LED bulbs—caught the eye of major European players, directly leading to early partnerships with aviation giant Airbus. Today, however, the company’s operational center of gravity and major deployments have firmly shifted to New Delhi, India.
The newly injected capital will accelerate the commercialisation of Velmenni’s Free Space Optics (FSO) and Light Fidelity (Li-Fi) systems. Unlike traditional Wi-Fi or 5G networks that rely on congested radio frequencies, Velmenni’s technology utilizes highly focused, invisible light and lasers to transmit data through the air.
“Our idea was to build an alternative that can provide very high-speed communication while replacing fibre in situations where laying cables is difficult,” Solanki said in a statement. He noted that the concept originated nearly a decade ago, dating back to the company’s early research days.
The technology directly addresses a major bottleneck in 5G rollouts: backhaul. Installing underground fiber-optic cables to connect thousands of 5G “small cells” is expensive and slow. Velmenni’s optical transceivers circumvent this by beaming data at fiber-like speeds (over 10 Gbps) across distances of 1 to 25 kilometers, completely immune to electromagnetic interference.
Velmenni said it has completed more than 50 live deployments across India, Southeast Asia, and the United States, including pilots with Tier-1 U.S. telecom operators.
“They have demonstrated the ability to translate a new technology into real-world commercial deployments,” Shubham Sandeep, partner at pi Ventures, said in the statement. “We believe Velmenni is well-positioned to scale optical wireless communication globally and meet growing worldwide demand for secure, high-capacity connectivity.”
While the startup’s corporate structure still bears the legacy of its Estonian roots, the latest funding signals Velmenni’s maturity into a major Indian defence and telecom contractor.
The company plans to use the new funds to further scale its global deployments, bringing a technology that was once nurtured in Tartu's suburbs to telecom towers and military and naval fleets worldwide.