Infosys Among Bidders Shortlisted For In-SPACe’s INR 1,500 Cr Mission: Report

In the run-up to the submission of draft request for proposal (RFP) of Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre’s (IN-SPACe) INR 1,500 Cr project, a report by The Hindu businessline suggests that tech major Infosys is among the six bidders shortlisted by the space body to build and launch constellation of earth observation (EO) satellites. 

Citing sources, the publication said that Infosys is part of a consortium of companies that have placed bids for the project. Infosys-backed spacetech startup GalaxEye is also part of this consortium. Other consortia that are set to have placed their bids for the project are: 

• SatSure, Pixxel, Dhruva Space and PierSight
• Ananth Technologies, Solar Group and XDLINX
• Astra, Bharat Electronics (BEL) and Sisir Radar
• Tata Advanced Systems and Centum

However, there hasn’t been any official communication from IN-SPACe about the names of the bidders for the project. 

Last week, the department (IN-SPACe), without disclosing names, told Inc42 that it had requested RFPs from the selected applicants for the project. The final date for the submissions of these proposals on how they (the applicants) plan to execute the project is March 31. 

The space agency floated an expression of interest (EoI) in this regard in July last year. Under this, the bidders are to design, build and deploy a constellation of satellites that will be equipped with achromatic, multispectral, hyperspectral and microwave imaging. By December, it was reported that IN-SPACe had received bids from 30 entities for the project. 

The department is judging the applications based on multiple parameters, including funding, valuation, and revenue. Under other requirements, IN-SPACe is looking at applicants who have raised at least INR 85 Cr in funding or INR 42.5 Cr in case of an Indian startup. Besides, they are also required to have a valuation of INR 850 Cr or an average turnover of INR 200 Cr for at least two-years.

Notably, Infosys entered the spacetech sector when it invested $2 Mn via its venture arm Infosys Innovation Fund in Galaxeye, acquiring a minority shareholding in the startup. 

Founded in 2021 by Suyash Singh, Denil Chawda, Kishan Thakkar, Pranit Mehta, and Rakshit Bhatt, GalaxEye claims to be developing the world’s first multi sensor EO satellite, alongside a constellation of indigenous micro satellites with advanced data fusion capabilities. 

Infosys’ investment in the startup was part of its Series A round in which it netted a total investment of $10 Mn. The round was led by MountTech Growth Fund – Kavachh and also saw participation from Mela Ventures, Speciale Invest, ideaForge and Smarthya Investment Advisor.