Satellites, space missions, aerospace technology, and space exploration
Agnikul Cosmos ground-tested a four-Agnilet cluster, using an electric pump-fed cycle to turn thrust-matching into software-defined throttling. With a $500M-plus valuation and ICEYE and Safran MoUs, it de-risks a targeted late-2026 orbital launch.
Manik Gupta
Author
Skyroot's $60M raise at a $1.1B pre-money made it India's first space-tech unicorn — co-led by Sherpalo and GIC, with BlackRock joining. The valuation is set ahead of orbital revenue; Vikram-1's maiden flight is the binding de-risking event.
Manik Gupta
Author
The ePlane Company is the first private Indian entity to win a DGCA Design Organisation Approval for its e200X eVTOL, a durable regulatory moat now anchoring a planned $40-50M Series C toward fleet commercialisation.
Manik Gupta
Author
GalaxEye's ~190 kg Mission Drishti co-locates X-band SAR and a 7-band multispectral imager on one bench, fusing them in orbit. The SyncFusion architecture kills ground-station fusion latency and underwrites a defensible Earth-observation moat.
Manik Gupta
Author
Digantara's $50M Series B funds 15 tracking satellites and a pivot to space-based missile warning. The debris-tracking base business is high-margin; the defense move is the asymmetric, riskier bet.
Manik Gupta
Author
IN-SPACe's SBaaS contracts give Dhruva Space, Astrome and Azista ₹5 crore each for modular small-sat buses, while Dhruva's ₹105 crore Project Garud targets a 500 kg-class platform for constellations.
Manik Gupta
Author
Agnikul is reportedly raising $50-75M at ~$500M, but the standout is Tamil Nadu's TIDCO taking a ₹25 crore equity stake, a rare government bet on a private Indian launch startup's 3D-printed engine moat.
Manik Gupta
Author
Skyroot became India's first space-tech unicorn on a ~$60M raise at ~$1.1B, and placed its carbon-composite Vikram-1 at Sriharikota. A June 2026 orbital attempt now de-risks the whole private-launch thesis.
Manik Gupta
Author
HAL won the ₹511 crore transfer of ISRO's SSLV, the first full handover of an Indian launch vehicle to one firm. The structure frees ISRO for advanced missions and makes HAL an integrated launch-services player.
Manik Gupta
Author
Pixxel's US NRO hyperspectral contract, GalaxEye's first-on-orbit OptoSAR fusion and NISAR's 100,000+ free L-band SAR products reframe Indian Earth observation as a defensible ISR play with sensor-fusion moats.
Manik Gupta
Author
