Announcement
On September 3, 2026, Dtyle.AI announced that Prof. Prabhu Rajagopal has been officially onboarded as the company’s Growth Advisor. The appointment was made in Chennai, India, and was confirmed by the founder and CEO, Sasikumar Chandran.
Advisor Background
Prof. Rajagopal holds a PhD and completed post‑doctoral research at Imperial College London after earning a five‑year integrated master’s degree from IIT Madras. His research spans non‑destructive evaluation, robotics, and data engineering, resulting in 114 peer‑reviewed publications, more than 150 technical articles, and over 60 granted IP filings. Throughout his career he has attracted more than $90 million in combined R&D and venture funding. He has received numerous awards, including Young Scientist Awards from the Indian Society for NDT (2016) and the Institute for Smart Structures and Systems (2017), the Swarnajayanti Fellowship (2020), the National Design Award (2016), the Gandhian Young Technology Award (2018), National Entrepreneurship and Startup Awards for Planys (2019‑20), the Economic Times Startup Award for Solinas (2022), IITM Institute R&D Awards (2019 & 2025), the National Technology Award for Xyma (2023), and the Bhatnagar Prize for mid‑career scientists (2024). He was also inducted as an Honorary Fellow of the Indian Society for NDT (2024), named Mukta Pai Faculty Fellow (2025), and elected Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering (2025).
Prof. Rajagopal has co‑founded several startups, including Planys (submersible robots), Solinas (robotics for water and sanitation), and Xyma (high‑temperature ultrasonic sensors), which are credited with disrupting asset‑maintenance practices such as eliminating manual scavenging. He co‑owns AI model IPs commercialised by Plenome and currently advises BotForge, Terraclime, Automagri, and Matterize. His international collaborations extend across the UK, EU, and East Africa. Within India’s innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem, he led IIT Madras’s Center for Innovation (2020‑25), the pre‑incubator Nirmaan (2023‑25), founded the Institute’s School of I&E (summer 2025), and serves on the board of TECHIN, the startup incubator of IIT Palakkad, since 2023. He presently holds the Nanjangud G. Viswanath Swabhanu Leadership Chair Professorship at IIT Madras, directs the institute’s offshore campus in Zanzibar, Tanzania, and is an adjunct professor at the University of Nairobi, Kenya, and the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology, Arusha, Tanzania. He also acts as Technical Advisor to the Network of Entrepreneurial Institutions Leaders and as Vice‑Chair of Working Group 3 (Education and Research) at the International Committee for NDT.
Dtyle.AI Profile
Dtyle.AI, operating as Dtyle.AI Nuview Pvt Ltd, is a deep‑tech Vision AI company incubated at IIT Madras in Chennai. The firm develops real‑time fire, smoke, and safety‑critical monitoring systems for maritime and other safety‑critical industries. It holds DPIIT Startup India recognition, is a member of the NVIDIA Inception programme, and is backed by Amazon Web Services. Dtyle.AI was selected for the PIER71 Smart Port Challenge 2026 cohort in Singapore.
Executive Remarks
Sasikumar Chandran, Founder & CEO of Dtyle.AI, stated that Prof. Rajagopal’s two‑decade track record of turning deep research into impactful companies aligns with Dtyle.AI’s goal of scaling from pilot deployments to global growth, and that his strategic guidance has already been central to the company’s development. Prof. Rajagopal expressed enthusiasm for supporting Dtyle.AI’s AI‑based safety solutions in maritime mobility, transportation, and industrial domains, emphasizing the tech‑for‑good theme of his translational research.