India satellite imaging player Pixxel gets $36m Series B

Several existing backers re-upped, including Canada’s Radical Ventures, Lightspeed Partners, Blume Ventures, GrowX Ventures, Athera Venture Partners, and US-based Sparta. Radical led a Series A of USD 25m in March 2022, supported by Seraphim Space Investment, Lightspeed, Inventus Capital Partners, and Blume. GrowX was an earlier investor, alongside the likes of Omnivore Capital and Techstars.

Five months after closing the Series A, Pixxel secured an investment of undisclosed size from Accenture Ventures, the global consulting firm’s VC unit. Accenture noted at the time that it was interested in start-ups that focus on the space industry – which is expected to reach USD 1trn in revenue by 2040, while Pixxel stood out by virtue of its positioning at the intersection of space technology and sustainability.

Pixxel was founded in 2019 by Awais Ahmed and Kshitij Khandelwal who were then aged 20. The company aims to build a “health monitor for the planet” by 2024 – in the form of what is described as the world’s first and highest-resolution hyperspectral satellite constellation. Insights based on these data will be delivered through Aurora, an artificial intelligence-powered analytics platform.

The goal is to help discover, solve, and predict climate issues by capturing images at hundreds of wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum. Pixxel claims it can deliver better resolution imaging and more information than traditional satellites yet at a fraction of the cost of existing solutions.

Data provided by Pixxel is expected to be used by customers to monitor emissions, water pollution, gas leaks, oil spills, soil composition, forest biodiversity, and crop health. The company has already worked with the Indian Space Research Organization, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and SpaceX.

In the past year, Pixxel has launched three pathfinder missions – releasing images of locations in India, Dubai, Australia, and Senegal – and grown its customer base fivefold, according to a statement. It recently announced a five-year contract with the US National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) to provide hyperspectral imagery remote sensing capabilities via modelling and simulation and data evaluation.

Pixxel will serve the NRO using its on-orbit pathfinder systems and future satellite constellations. The new funding will support plans to launch six satellites in 2024 and 18 in 2025. The completed constellation is intended to provide global coverage every 24 hours.

“At Pixxel, we believe that the future of our planet lies in our ability to monitor and protect its health precisely. With this round of funding, we are even closer now to realizing our mission of building a health monitor for the planet, and empowering people around the world to make informed decisions about our collective well-being," said Ahmed.

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Early-stage
• Technology
• Cleantech
• India
• Google
• space
• Lightspeed Venture Partners
• Blume Ventures
• GrowX Ventures
• Athera Venture Partners