CHENNAI: Bengaluru-based Space-tech startup GalaxEye, building a multi-sensor satellite imaging by combining cameras and radars together, plans to launch its first satellite by the mid of next year. It plans to send up three more satellites 18 months after the first launch.
GalaxEye’s plans to put up a satellite in orbit by the end of this year has been postponed. Speaking to TNIE, Suyash Singh, Co-founder and Chief Executive of the company said they’re in talks with Indian Space Research Organisation and scaling up the prototype for the satellite.
Talking about finding scenario in the country, he said, "Funding scenario went bad and startups have to be mindful of that. The deal size and amount of the deals have gone down. It should be made sure that companies not burning the cash.”
He further said that while raising early-stage seed funds is not a problem, raising a considerable sum is difficult and many Indian investors are sceptical of deep-tech startups.
Suyash suggested that grants from the government for pre-revenue startups can bring a leap of faith. “Deep tech companies need to burn some money and technology risk is a little higher for the venture capitalists. As the research and development take off and risk comes down, then VCs can get into those trends.”
The Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) incubated startup plans to launch a constellation of 20 microsatellites within 2028.
Only a handful of space tech startups like Pixxel Space are competing in the space imaging market in the country. Pixxel is using hyper-spectral satellites, which are more sophisticated than standard satellite imagery and use hundreds of wavelengths.
GalaxEye, on the other hand, combines multi-spectral cameras and synthetic aperture radars (SAR) with data fusion, a patented technology, for all-weather, all-time imaging. The multispectral cameras can provide intuitive, detailed imagery, but are not useful in poor lighting conditions. SAR can penetrate clouds, and have nighttime imaging, but can’t provide much details.
“I was trying to understand how the California forest fires were progressing and that’s when I came across the problem. I tried to combine these two but it was not easy as it was taken at different times,” he said.
Suyash founded team Avishkar Hyperloop at IIT Madras and it became the only Asian team to qualify for the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod contest in 2019. A few team members started GalaxEye in 2020.
The startup has taken data as a service revenue model and targets the insurance tech and defence-tech markets. “Insurance players can predict risk from the climate in a particular area to underwrite property insurance and assess damages," he said. The geo-spatial intelligence has been increasingly used in the military and the Indian Government has been buying satellite image data from other countries and this area has a huge potential as well as strategic significance, he added.