Peak XV Partners, formerly known as Sequoia Capital India & Southeast Asia, on Tuesday, said it has invested $10 million in space tech firm Digantara, marking the first investment since the rebranding of the venture capital firm.
Founded by Anirudh Sharma, Rahul Rawat, and Tanveer Ahmed, Digantara aims to address the difficulties of space operations and situational awareness through its Space-Mission Assurance Platform (Space-MAP). With the new Series A1 funding around Digantara aims to further develop Space-MAP.
The round also saw participation from Kalaari Capital, Japan-based venture capital firm Global Brain, Campus Fund, and the founders of IIFL Wealth.
The fresh funding comes around two years after Digantara raised $2.5 million in seed funding from Kalaari Capital.
Around 96% of the 1 million objects that are currently in the Earth’s orbit are untracked due to inadequate tracking capabilities, Digantara said. “These objects are large enough to cause damage to spacecraft but small enough to go undetected. With space becoming more congested and contested, there is a pressing need for an infrastructure layer that enables safer space operations.”
The fresh infusion of capital will allow Digantara to deploy the first phase of its space-based surveillance satellite constellation and accelerate the development of its downstream Space Situational Awareness (SSA) service to offer them in a comprehensive manner by Q2 2024, the company said.
Whereas overall funding in Indian startups dramatically slowed in 2022, space tech startups bucked the trend. According to Tracxn, the total funding in Indian spacetech startups increased to $112.2 million in 2022 from $91.5 million in 2021. From just 11 in 2019, there are currently over 100 spacetech startups, as per the Economic Survey 2022. The years 2021 and 2022 saw 47 and 56 spacetech startups emerge in India respectively.
Most recently, Pixxel raised $36 million in a Series B funding round from Google and other existing investors.
In India, startups operating in this sector create technology and services such as satellites, and tools to observe the Earth from space, and systems for communication and navigation in space. They also make software for analysing data from space and provide advice to companies and organisations working in the space industry. Their services are also critical for industries such as media, weather forecasting, agriculture, navigation, broadband, and remote sensing.
Digantara said it has commenced the development of India’s first commercial Space Situational Awareness (SSA) optical observatory in the state of Uttarakhand. The firm also recently launched two missions that served as the space weather testbed. Recently, it also expanded operations to Singapore.
Sequoia announced recently that it was going to split into three independent entities—Peak XV Partners, which will focus on India & Southeast Asia, HongShan to focus on China, and Sequoia Capital representing the US and Europe.