Google makes space-tech investment in Bengaluru-based startup that launched satellite with Elon Musk’s SpaceX

Google is making its first investment in the Indian space sector in a Bengalore-based startup called Pixxel. The Alphabet-owned company is leading a $36 million Series B funding round in Bengaluru-headquartered space tech startup Pixxel. This comes after the government announced a new privatisation policy back in April.

Found in 2019, Pixxel is a satellite-image startup, that aims to build a constellation of satellites that can identify mineral deposits or productivity crops by analysing the spectral signature of an image. The startup also encourages startups to deliver broadband services like Starlink and power applications like tracking supply chains.

Founder and CEO, Pixxel, Awais Ahmed told Reuters that Pixxel will now be “the most valued space tech company in India after this investment".

Our journey to the stars just got a $36M boost! We're over the moon to announce that @PixxelSpace has secured $36M in Series B funding! 🚀 A big thank you to @Google, @lightspeedvp, @radicalvcfund, and others for believing in our vision of transforming the way we see our planet! pic.twitter.com/oTUOySe06F

— Awais Ahmed (@awaisahmedna) June 1, 2023

Pixxel also launched its hyperspectral imaging satellite with the help of Elon Musk’s SpaceX Falcon-9 rocket. Launched in April last year, this satellite was named ‘Shakuntala’ and is aimed to monitor climate change.

Last year at Google for India 2022, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced a $10 billion Google for India Digitization Fund to help accelerate India’s digital economy. Notably, Google’s recent investment in the space tech startup has been made through its India Digitisation Fund.

Ahmed revealed that this is not the first time that the company is working with Google. He stated, “We work with satellite data and Google does a lot of work around that with agriculture and environment. They also have Google Earth ... so a combination of that led to them seeing a benefit."

In addition to sending three satellites into space, Pixxel is preparing six more satellites to launch next year. It is also looking to hire more engineers for its analytics.

Talking about what sparked the need to have a space tech startup, Ahmed says he was inspired to do that after his visit to Elon Musk’s SpaceX. At that time, he had participated in a student competition to build a demonstration “hyperloop” transport pod. Additionally, Ahmed reveals that he and co-found Kshitij Khandelwal want to build an AI model that could use satellite data to predict crop yields, detect illegal mining and track natural disasters.

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