India Must Build Space Tech Muscle to Avoid New-Age Colonization: Former ISRO Chief AS Kiran
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India should start enabling its competence, both for survival and being one among the equals in the modern space race, to not get into another "colonization" situation, said AS Kiran Kumar, Former chairperson of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), speaking to Entrepreneur India.
"Space is a new frontier, and human systems always look at any new capability to take advantage of that and dominate and impose themselves. So if you don't want to get imposed and get into another type of colonization, there is no option but to build your competence. And India has shown that it is capable of doing so. As these resources and your economic strength continue to increase, if you stay behind, you'll run into another kind of colonization," said Kumar.
The country is now home to more than 100 space-tech startups, most of which were founded in the last 5 years. The global space technology startup stage experienced a slowdown, while the Indian counterparts enjoyed a healthy upward funding trend.
A Tracxn report reveals that 2023 served as the year with the highest funds pouring in, totalling USD 126 Million, which is a 7 per cent increase from 2022, and a whopping 235 per cent increase compared to 2021. Early-stage startups attracted the majority of the available funds with USD 120 million. Seed-stage funding saw a growth of 24 per cent in 2023 with USD 5.3 Million, and in 2024 saw USD 2.29 Million invested in seed-stage rounds so far.
"Startups in the space segment are very tough," Kumar said, emphasizing that transforming an idea into a viable revenue model in this field comes with immense technical and financial challenges. The space sector, he explained, has "very low tolerance for failure," making it historically the domain of nation-states.
However, the environment is shifting. Governments are now "enabling private entities to participate by reducing the risk," said Kumar, adding that this support often includes consumption guarantees and service commitments that help private ventures gain a foothold.
Startups today are increasingly shifting toward service-based models such as "launch as a service" and "satellite as a service," which allow companies to leverage existing infrastructure rather than build from scratch. "Earlier, the problem was if you have an idea... the entire process of building it, launching it, maintaining it is a huge infrastructure. Now those mechanisms are getting decoupled," he noted.
Kumar also pointed out emerging opportunities in satellite waste management, or as he called it, "waste to wealth services," which could become a significant vertical as more satellites enter orbit.
Speaking about new frontiers, the Indian startup ecosystem is brimming with potential, especially in deep tech and frontier technology. Rohan Choukkar, VP of Investments at Bharat Innovation Fund (BIF), said that India can lead in these sectors globally.
"Deep tech and frontier tech don't exist in a vacuum. It comes from the existing technology, economic, and engineering base that a country has built over decades. For example, India has built real depth in chemistry. That plays out not just in pharma but in batteries, specialty chemicals, and materials innovation. We're seeing a lot of action in battery materials and novel chemical formulations, those that leverage the chemistry muscle India has built over generations," said Choukkar.
Choukkar also added that there are semiconductors and electronics. "India has historically been a base for global semiconductor companies. Bangalore is full of large global players who have major engineering teams here. The talent that's come out of these companies is now going on to build next-generation solutions in semiconductors, defense electronics, and more."
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