Google leads funding round for Indian space startup Pixxel

Virgin Orbit Holdings

01/06/2023 12:00

BENGALURU, June 1 (Reuters) - Alphabet Inc's  GOOGL.O 
Google is leading a $36 million funding round for
Bengaluru-based Pixxel, a satellite-image startup, in the first
major investment in the Indian space sector since the government
launched its privatisation policy in April.
    Pixxel, founded in 2019, is building a constellation of
satellites that have the ability to identify mineral deposits or
the productivity of crops by analysing the spectral signature of
an image.
    Miner Rio Tinto Ltd  RIO.AX  and Australian agritech company
DataFarming are clients, Pixxel said.
    The startup has raised more $71 million from investors
including Accenture PLC  ACN.F . Pixxel did not specify how much
Google had invested or the valuation it reflected.
    Google in India did not immediately respond to questions
about the investment.
    Founder and Chief Executive Awais Ahmed said Pixxel would be
"the most valued space tech company in India after this
investment".
    That had been rocket and launch provider Skyroot Aerospace,
valued at an estimated $163 million, according to Tracxn, which
tracks startups.
    "We work with satellite data and Google does a lot of work
around that with agriculture and environment," Ahmed told
Reuters. "They also have Google Earth ... so a combination of
that led to them seeing a benefit."
    Pixxel is among the many private companies looking for a
fillip since India opened the space sector, encouraging startups
to deliver broadband services like Starlink and to power
applications like tracking supply chains.
    The government announced its private-sector space policy
framework in April.
    The funding comes at a time when startups globally have
struggled to raise funds. Space startups, in particular, have
come under pressure after the bankruptcy of Richard Branson's
Virgin Orbit launch company.
    Ahmed said the funding would be used to build out its
satellite network. Pixxel is readying six satellites for launch
next year to add to the three it has now and looking to hire
more engineers for its analytics.
    Ahmed has said he was inspired to launch a space startup
from a visit Elon Musk's SpaceX as part of a student competition
to build a demonstration "hyperloop" transport pod.
    He and co-founder Kshitij Khandelwal set out to build an AI
model that could use satellite data to predict crop yields,
detect illegal mining and track natural disasters.
    They launched Pixxel when they concluded existing commercial
satellite images did not provide enough detail. Pixxel's
satellites take in and analyse a wide spectrum of light instead
of just assigning primary colours to each pixel, a technology
known as hyperspectral imaging.

 (Reporting by Nivedita Bhattacharjee in Bengaluru; Editing by
Kevin Krolicki and Christopher Cushing)
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