Spacetech Startup Pixxel Bags $36 Mn Funding From Google, Others

Spacetech startup Pixxel on Thursday (June 1) said it has raised $36 Mn in its Series B funding round, which saw participation of new investors such as Google. Existing investors Radical Ventures, Lightspeed, Blume Ventures, GrowX, Sparta, and Athera also participated in the funding round.

In a statement, the startup said it will use the fresh capital to build a high-resolution hyperspectral satellite constellation which will deliver actionable climate insights on a planetary scale.

The fresh funds will also be used for the development of Aurora, Pixxel’s AI-powered analytics platform.

A part of the fresh capital will also be used for its plans to launch 6 satellites in 2024 and 18 other satellites by 2025.

“With this round of funding, we are even closer now to realising our mission of building a health monitor for the planet, and empowering people around the world to make informed decisions about our collective well-being,” Awais Ahmed, cofounder and CEO of Pixxel, said.

Founded in 2019 by Ahmed and Kshitij Khandelwal, the Bengaluru-based spacetech startup is developing high-resolution imaging satellites for customers. These satellites will offer AI-enabled insights that will help discover, resolve and forecast climate issues in real-time.

Pixxel mainly operates in the hyperspectral imaging sphere that gives a better analysis of earth’s surface and captures high-resolution images for data analysis.

Pixxel launched three pathfinder missions into orbit in 2022. It claims to have grown its customer base 5X in 2022.

Earlier this year, Pixxel signed a 5-year contract with the NRO Commercial Systems Program Office to equip the latter with hyperspectral imagery-enabled remote sensing capabilities for intelligence and surveillance activities. The NRO is an agency under the US’ Department of Defence.

In August last year, Pixxel received an undisclosed amount of strategic investment from IT giant Accenture. Prior to that, the startup secured $25 Mn in Series A funding round led by Canada-based Radical Ventures in March 2022.

Overall, Pixxel has raised a funding of $71 Mn to date from investors such as Lightspeed, Radical Ventures, Accenture Ventures, Seraphim Capital,, Blume Ventures,, growX Ventures, Athera Venture Partners, and Omnivore VC.

The spacetech sector has taken big strides over the last few years, which has seen the emergence of global giants like SpaceX and Blue Origin. The year 2022 also turned out to be a historic one for the Indian spacetech sector as Skyroot Aerospace launched the country’s first privately-built rocket.

Spacetech startups in India are looking at a $77 Bn market opportunity by 2030, according to Inc42 data.

The startups in this space have raised a funding of over $205 Mn since 2014. Agnikul, Skyroot, and Pixxel are among the major spacetech startups in the country.

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