Former defence secretary Ajay Kumar floated MountTech Growth Fund, an investment vehicle focused on defence, aerospace and deeptech sectors, will soon be joining a funding round of spacetech startup GalaxEye.
As per ET, the investment firm will join prominent investors such as Infosys, Celesta Capital, Speciale Invest, Mela Ventures, and Rainmatter in backing GalaxEye’s $10 Mn Series A fundraise.
The round includes $2 Mn from Infosys and $6.5 Mn led by Mela Ventures and Speciale Invest.
The fresh capital will help in accelerating the development of GalaxEye’s upcoming satellite, the ‘Drishti Mission,’ designed to deliver high-resolution, all-weather, multi-sensor data.
This marks Mounttech’s maiden investment since its first close in July this year.
Earlier in July, it was reported that Kumar’s INR 250 Cr (around $29.9 Mn) VC fund has secured approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), and also received subscriptions worth INR 280 Cr, while it is also set to invoke the green-shoe option for another INR 250 Cr.
“I think one of the most important milestones will be launching the first satellite and that’s what the funds will be used for. And second is to commercialise some of the existing tech, including the satellite that’s going to go up,” cofounder Pranit Mehta told ET.
The startup that provides satellite-based imaging services aims to launch the satellite around the middle of next year.
The Bengaluru-based startup has partnered with Ideaforge to develop drone technology and with other industry players for satellite launch support, including satellite platform systems, assembly, and testing. Founded in 2020, GalaxEye has raised approximately $15 Mn to date, according to Mehta.
Kumar’s entry into the market comes at a time when aerospace, defence and deeptech industries are gaining attention from the central government.
The Indian Spacetech sector is experiencing rapid growth, with projections indicating that the total market opportunity could reach over $77 Bn by 2030.
Earlier this year, the union cabinet approved a substantial investment of INR 10,372 Cr over five years for the India AI Mission. Also, with initiatives like Make In India, the country aims to reduce its reliance on imports of defence equipment and technology and increase its defence exports to seize a share of the $2.1 Tn global defence market.
