Satellite imaging start-up GalaxEye Space gets $3.5 mn seed funding

Company says its technology helps in all-weather imaging without atmospheric interference

GalaxEye Space, a start-up for earth observation, said on Thursday it has raised $3.5 million in a seed round led by Special Invest, a deep-tech venture capital firm.

GalaxEye will use the money for launching the world's first multi-sensor satellite and to hire talent. The round also had participation from investors including Artha India Ventures, Veda VC, Anicut Capital, Upsparks, and a consortium of entrepreneurs that included Nithin Kamath (founder of Zerodha), Prashant Pitti (founder of EaseMyTrip), Abhishek Goyal (founder of Tracxn) and Ganapathy Subramaniam (partner at Celesta Capital).

“We are truly the first Indian space start-up incorporated in India to build an imaging satellite and we are committed to accelerating technological innovation in India for the world,” said Suyash Singh, co-founder and chief executive officer, GalaxEye Space. “I believe this is possible today with the enormous support available from ISRO, government, and our global partners.”

GalaxEye, at the funding round, announced its flagship product featuring multi-sensor imagery via satellites. The product will enable satellite constellations to perform all-weather imaging at all times without atmospheric interference.

“Next year is crucial for us, as we aspire to reach space with our satellite and become the leader in multi-sensor imaging for the industry, “added Singh. “We will be seeking an additional round of funding of the order of $15-25 M (million) in 2023 to add more satellites to our constellation as our business grows.”

GalaxEye was founded in 2020 and it is the work of entrepreneurs emerging from Avishkar Hyperloop, a team of scientists brought together for a global competition organised by American billionaire Elon Musk’s aerospace manufacturer and space transportation services company SpaceX. It was the only Asian team represented at the finale of the 2019 SpaceX Hyperloop.

“GalaxEye is one of the unique companies with the vision to democratize access to space for the small satellite market. Their team has a distinctive mix of domain strength and tenacity that will get them to space, making India self-reliant, Speciale Invest.

The company previously raised an undisclosed amount in a pre-seed funding round led by Speciale Invest in May 2021. This investment facilitated completing Proof of Concept and Prototype Development and Demonstration.

The new founding round marks the beginning of the company’s commercialization as it gets customers from the US, Europe and Africa.