InspeCity Bags $5.6 Mn To Build Satellite Servicing Solutions

SUMMARY

The funding round was led by Lucky Investment Managers and also saw participation from Speciale Invest, MGF Kavachh, Shastra VC, among others

InspeCity will primarily deploy the capital into technology development and demonstration

Founded in 2022, IIT Bombay-incubated InspeCity is building in-orbit satellite servicing and deorbiting services

Spacetech startup Inspecity has raised $5.6 Mn (INR 47.28 Cr) in its seed funding round led by ace investor Ashish Kacholia’s investment firm Lucky Investment Managers.

The funding round also saw participation from Speciale Invest, MountTech Growth Fund (MGF) Kavachh, Shastra VC and existing investors such as Antler India, DeVC India and Anicut Capital.

InspeCity cofounder and CEO Arindrajit Chowdhury told Inc42 that the startup will utilise the fresh proceeds towards technology development and demonstration.

“At the core, we build propulsion systems, robotics, and rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO) technology. So, we are trying to prove out pieces of this technology via this funding… We plan to launch one mission to prove out part of our overall technology stack. Primarily, we start with the propulsion systems, and the rest of it will integrate and demonstrate on the ground,” he added.

Founded in 2022 by IIT Bombay professor Chowdhury and his student Tausif Shaikh, InspeCity is building in-orbit satellite servicing and deorbiting solutions.

The spacetech startup is working on developing an autonomous robotic platform on top of ISRO’s polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV) stage-four module, the PSLV Orbital Experimental Module (POEM), which will allow InspeCity to service satellites in space and is a step towards its larger plan of building an orbital habitat around Earth’s orbit.

In December last year, InspeCity signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Japanese startup Orbital Lasers to explore laser-based solutions for removing space debris.

Including the current fundraise, the Mumbai-based startup has secured more than $7 Mn in funding to date. It is also backed by the likes of Veda VC and Ministry of Defence’s iDEX initiative.

The development comes at a time when the country’s spacetech sector is growing by leaps and bounds and is projected to become a $44 Bn market opportunity by 2030.

Pushing the momentum is the government backing for the spacetech sector. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her Budget 2024-25 speech, announced setting up an INR 1,000 Cr VC fund to back homegrown spacetech startups. In March, SIDBI Venture Capital was selected as the fund manager for the project.

Over the last few years, the Centre has taken a number of other steps to promote spacetech startups. For instance, it set up a new nodal body IN-SPACe for the sector, launched a dedicated Indian Space Policy, 2023, and liberalised rules to increase foreign investment limits in various space domains.

On the back of this, investors continue to line up for the sector. A week ago, Ahmedabad-based spacetech startup SatLeo Labs bagged $3.3 Mn to develop its proprietary thermal imaging payload and boost R&D efforts. Prior to that in February, Sisir Radar raised $1.5 Mn to strengthen its R&D and manufacturing capabilities.