BENGALURU: After witnessing a record funding of $126 million in 2023, space tech start-ups in the country have seen $10.8 million funding so far in 2024. Data from market intelligence firm Tracxn reveals that early-stage funding in 2024 reached $8.5 million in January-July 2024. India, which is home to more than 100 space tech start-ups, has not yet seen any late-stage funding in the last two to three years.
Recently, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Budget announced a Rs 1,000 crore fund to give boost to the space sector. Bengaluru leads the list of top-funded cities in the country’s space tech sector, followed by Hyderabad and Chennai. Bengaluru-based start-ups have contributed to over 55% (about $288 million) of the total funding in this space, and it is also the city with the highest number of space tech start-ups. In 2023, early-stage rounds attracted $120 million of the total $126 million raised. Seed-stage funding has also seen a significant rise, growing from $4.3 million in 2022 to $5.3 million in 2023, a 24% increase.
Neha Singh, co-founder of Tracxn, said the country’s space tech sector is growing rapidly. “The significant funding and strategic investments we are seeing now are setting the stage for India to become a major player in the global space industry.”
The sector is expected to attract more investments in coming months. Speciale Invest, Anicut Capital and GrowX Ventures are among the top investors in the sector.
With a total funding of $99.8 million, Skyroot is the highest-funded active space tech start-up in this space, followed by Pixxel with a funding of $71.7 million and Agnikul with $61.5 million. No other start-ups apart from these have raised funds above $50 million.