Alphabet Inc.’s (GOOGL.O) Google is spearheading a $36 million funding round for Bengaluru-based satellite-image firm Pixxel, the first big investment in the Indian space sector since April’s privatization policy.
Pixxel, founded in 2019, is creating a constellation of satellites that can locate mineral resources or crop yield by analyzing image spectral signatures.
Pixxel said Rio Tinto Ltd (RIO.AX) and Australian agritech DataFarming are clients.
Accenture PLC (ACN.F) invested over $71 million in the startup. Pixxel did not state its valuation. Google invested in Pixxel through its India Digitalisation Fund, which invests in Indian entrepreneurs.
Founder and CEO Awais Ahmed said Pixxel would be “the most valued space tech company in India after this investment.” Tracxn, which analyzes startups, valued rocket and launch company Skyroot Aerospace at $163 million.
“We work with satellite data and Google does a lot of work around that with agriculture and environment,” Ahmed told Reuters. “They also have Google Earth…so a combination of that led to them seeing a benefit.”
Since India opened the space market, entrepreneurs like Starlink and Pixxel have sought a boost. April saw the government’s private-sector space strategy.
Startups worldwide have struggled to raise capital. After Virgin Orbit’s collapse, space businesses are especially under pressure. Ahmed said the funds would expand its satellite network. Pixxel is adding six satellites to its three for launch next year and hiring analytics engineers.
Ahmed was motivated to start a space firm after visiting Elon Musk’s SpaceX for a student competition to build a “hyperloop” transport pod. He and co-founder Kshitij Khandelwal developed an AI model to estimate crop yields, detect illegal mining, and track natural disasters using satellite data.
After finding commercial satellite photos lacking in depth, they established Pixxel. Hyperspectral photography lets Pixel’s satellites analyze a wide range of light instead of assigning primary colors to each Pixel.
