Spacetech Startup Pixxel To Launch Third Demo Satellite Tomorrow

Spacetech startup Pixxel will launch its third hyperspectral satellite called Anand on Saturday (November 26th) at 12 PM. 

Pixxel’s hyperspectral microsatellite Anand weighs 15 kgs and has a total of more than 150+ bands that enable it to see Earth in more detail as compared to non-hyperspectral satellites, the startup shared.

The low-Earth orbit satellite will be at an altitude of approximately 500 kms from the surface. It has been designed and launched to carry out surveillance and observation activities in agriculture, oil and gas, mining and climate monitoring.

Pixxel’s founder Awais Ahmed also said that the startup plans to launch six commercial satellites by the end of 2023 or by early 2024.

“This will be followed by a series of launches in batches of 6, which will allow us to complete the constellation by early 2025,” Pixel said. 

Ahmed further informed that the startup is looking for purchasers across agritech, climatetech, gas and oil sectors that will be interested in buying high-resolution images captured by microsatellites. 

“We are building six, fully funded commercial satellites. These are much larger (as compared to the demo satellites), with much longer lifetime, and from which we will be able to do daily coverage almost every two days,” Ahmed told Economic Times.

The development has come months after Pixxel released its first commercial imaging satellite called Shakuntala. The satellite was launched into space through its rocket SpaceX Falcon-9.

Founded in 2019 by BITS Pilani graduates Awais 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 the Earth’s surface and captures high-resolution images for data analysis. 

Earlier, in a blog post, Pixxel said that the six commercial satellites will be the first set of satellites that will sell data commercially.

In August, Pixxel received an undisclosed amount of strategic investment from US-listed IT company Accenture. 

Prior to that, the startup secured $25 Mn in Series A funding round led by Canada-based Radical Ventures.

Other investors – Jordan Noone, Seraphim Space Investment, Lightspeed Partners, Blume Ventures, Sparta and Inventus Capital India also have participated in the funding round. 

So far, it has raised a total of $33 Mn funding from investors.

According to an Inc42 report, the Indian commercial spacetech industry is anticipated to grow to $77 Bn by 2030. Furthermore, more than 120 spactech startups are currently operating in the country. 

The sector is lately seeing a buzz with the launch of the first private rocket Vikram-S into space. Developed by spacetech startup Skyroot Aerospace, Vikram-S is the first private Indian rocket which has been launched into space on November 18.

In September, Skyroot secured $50.3 Mn (INR 403 Cr) in Series B funding round led by GIC. GIC’s Waverly Pte Ltd also invested in the startup. 

In July, Inc42 reported that spacetech startup Agnikul was in discussions with investors to raise $40 Mn in Series B round at a valuation of $250 Mn.