Pixxel raises $25 million in what is India’s largest fundraise by a space technology company till date. The funding round was led by Toronto-based Radical Ventures with participation from Jordan Noone, Seraphim Space Investment, Lightspeed Partners, Blume Ventures, Sparta LLC and Inventus Capital India.

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The fresh capital will enable Pixxel to expedite production of its high-resolution hyperspectral satellite, which offers artificial intelligence-powered insights help discover and predict climate issues at a fraction of traditional satellite cost.

Founded by Awais Ahmed and Kshitij Khandelwal in 2019, Pixxel works with space organisations such as Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), NASA and SpaceX. In fact, the startup is launching the first of its hyperspectral satellites as a part of SpaceX’s upcoming Transporter-4 mission in April.

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"We’re committed to providing a critical tool in the fight against climate change, helping researchers and on-the-ground responders detect and develop effective strategies to combat imminent environmental threats," said Awais Ahmed, Co-Founder and CEO, Pixxel.

"This funding will not only assist us with this goal but will help us improve our software capabilities so that organizations of all sizes can access and understand this data,” he added.

In 2021, India's spacetech startups had a breakthrough year with funding of nearly $70 million, up from $22 million in 2020, according to Tracxn.

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Pixxel is amongst the most well-funded startups in the space with Agnikul Cosmos, Skyroot Aerospace, Dhruva, Digantara, SatSure, Vesta Space and others attracting strong investor interest after the government opened up the space sector for private companies in mid-2020.

While each startup brings its own proposition to space technology with a range of applications, Pixxel's strength lies in offering advanced tools for agriculture, oil, gas, mining and environmental agencies to analyze geospatial images of the earth’s surface in real-time through a simple API. It helps monitor the health of crops, measure climate risks such as floods, famine or carbon emissions and detect pipeline leaks.

For India, tracking disaster response activities, agricultural productivity, natural resources and urbanization are key areas whose management can contribute to planet conservation and sustainability, the company said in a statement.

(Edited by : Priyanka Deshpande)

First Published:Mar 28, 2022 6:45 PM IST