Startup Ecosystem Roars In Joy As Chandrayaan-3 Successfully Lands On Moon’s Lap

As the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) created history with the successful landing of Vikram Lander on the moon today, the entire nation roared with joy. Amid this, Indian startup founders and investors too seemed to be over the moon, hailing the minds behind the success of Chandrayaan-3. 

“The clinical landing of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft seemed like we knew the path already. This is a testament to ISRO’s talent and efforts to do the impossible. This is the success of ISRO and India,” GalaxEye Space cofounder and chief executive officer (CEO) Suyash Singh told Inc42.

Pixxel cofounder and CEO Awais Ahmed took to X, formerly Twitter, to express his excitement about the successful soft landing. He termed the feat a ‘testament’ to the country’s technological prowess and a ‘clarion call’ for homegrown spacetech startups.

“… as Chandrayaan 3 touches the lunar surface, it’s not just a spacecraft making contact, but a nation’s dreams, aspirations, and future converging to a single point in the vast expanse of space… The message is clear: the cosmos is not a frontier for a select few but a canvas for collective imagination… This is more than a mission accomplished; it’s a genesis of a golden era in Indian space exploration,” tweeted Ahmed.

AgniKul Cosmos cofounder and chief operating officer Moin SPM termed the landing ‘ecstatic’ and a proud moment for Indians. “This is India’s time not limited to the world but extending it to the moon as well”, added Moin.

Applauding the landing, Anup Jain, managing partner at Orios Venture Partners, said that the country’s moon mission offers insights for the homegrown spacetech startup ecosystem. 

“Pride aside, I find it similar to our #startup ecosystem where all of us… are working together to achieve something that is big, impactful… Risk of failure looms every day on this journey… However, like lunar missions, we can be safe in the fact that #success comes only through experiencing #failures. All we have to do is learn from them, pick ourselves up and have another go at it !,” said Jain on LinkedIn. 

Lauding the landing, 3one4 Capital’s founding partner Pranav Pai said that the venture capital (VC) firm will deepen investments in indigenous technologies going forward.

“It is also timely, as India cements its position as a top five global economy and marches towards $5 trillion and the third largest country on the economic leaderboard. We look forward to a deeper investment in leading indigenous technology from here, and more inspiration for us all building tech in India!,” noted Pai.

With Chandrayaan-3, India became the first country to successfully land a spacecraft on the Moon’s south pole. 

It also achieved the feat of being just the fourth country in the world to successfully land on the surface of the moon, after Russia, the US and China. Vikram Lander landed on the surface at 06:04 pm amid jubilation from scientists at ISRO’s command centre in Bengaluru.