IIT-Bombay incubated spacetech startup InspeCity secures $5.6 million in seed funding
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IIT Bombay-incubated spacetech startup InspeCity, which is building technology for satellite life-extension , announced it has secured a $5.6 million (about Rs XX) seed funding round, led by Ashish Kacholia and participation from Speciale Invest, Shastra VC, Antler India, DeVC, MGF-Kavachh and Anicut Capital.It aims to focus on building solutions for in-space servicing, assembly and manufacturing (ISAM) and in-space propulsion.The Mumbai-based startup said it will use the capital to continue its research and development and scale up to commercialisation. It wants to develop a fully vertically integrated platform for life-extension, with propulsion, robotics, and rendezvous, proximity operations and docking (RPOD) technologies developed under the same roof. Arindrajit Chowdhury , CEO of InspeCity and professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at IIT Bombay , told ET that it will conduct a demo mission in 2027 during which it will fly a satellite to space and test its propulsion systems 'We're targeting a global market known as ISAM. It's projected to be about $14 billion by 2030, growing strongly. We want to corner that with VEDA (Vehicle for Life Extension and De-orbiting Activities) as a global offering, and also by selling propulsion systems,' he said.Chowdhury said at the satellite level, there's been only one successful life-extension or refuelling mission so far—done by Northrop Grumman around 2020. 'Despite big investments, like NASA's multi-billion-dollar refuelling and capture mission, the technology hasn't matured to TRL-9 universally. It's still early days. There's a massive opportunity for a new player to capture this market,' he said.He believes InspeCity's development and build costs are likely to be lower than those of global competitors.The startup said while the US and Europe are important markets for spacetech, Southeast Asia and West Asia are coming up as major hubs. Last year, it signed a memorandum of understanding with Japanese startup Orbital Lasers to explore laser-based solutions for removing space debris.
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