Latest news with #VisheshRajaram
Time of India
24-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
World Economic Forum features 10 Indian startups as Tech Pioneers; spacetech wins big
The World Economic Forum (WEF) has featured 10 Indian startups among its 2025 cohort of 100 'Technology Pioneers,' recognising emerging companies building breakthrough solutions across sectors like space tech , electric mobility , robotics, and healthcare. This year's selection highlighted India's growing role in the global deep tech ecosystem, with space startups making up the largest segment of India's representation. Startups such as Agnikul Cosmos, Digantara, and GalaxEye were recognised for their contributions in space launches, space situational awareness, and earth observation technologies, respectively. These space tech startups are currently preparing for major missions in the coming year, and recognition from WEF is expected to draw greater global investor interest in India's growing space economy. The selected startups will now work closely with WEF's platforms to contribute to global discussions on technology, sustainability, and inclusive growth. Agnikul, GalaxEye, and The ePlane Company were incubated at IIT-Madras , which has built a robust deeptech ecosystem. The ePlane Company is developing electric flying taxis aimed at easing urban congestion. 'We find this acknowledgement to be a great motivator for us to accelerate our developments in space tech by building new innovations in earth observation,' Suyash Singh, founder of GalaxEye, told ET. Live Events He added that with the startup announcing its second satellite last week amid growing demand for geospatial data, the recognition reaffirms their belief in the global relevance of their work. Discover the stories of your interest Blockchain 5 Stories Cyber-safety 7 Stories Fintech 9 Stories E-comm 9 Stories ML 8 Stories Edtech 6 Stories Other Indian companies recognised in the cohort include Exponent Energy, known for its rapid-charging battery systems for electric vehicles (EVs), CynLr for its work in robotics and machine vision, Freight Tiger for building a software-enabled freight network, SolarSquare for residential solar energy systems, Dezy for AI-driven dental diagnostics, and Equal for identity verification and consent-driven data sharing. Venture capital firm Speciale Invest, which backed four of the 10 Indian startups selected as Technology Pioneers - Agnikul, ePlane, CynLr, and GalaxEye, said the global recognition affirms not only their audacious vision across space launch, flying taxis, robotic vision, and multi-sensor satellite intelligence, but also marks a pivotal moment for India's rise as a deeptech leader. 'This milestone is a testament to their boldness, ingenuity, and the world-class innovation emerging from India,' said Vishesh Rajaram, managing partner at Speciale Invest. The Technology Pioneers community features 100 early-stage companies from 28 countries driving innovation across industries and borders. 'The geography of innovation is also evolving. While the United States remains the top contributor to the community, Europe's share has surged to 28% – up from 20% last year – reflecting the rise of strong tech ecosystems across the region. China and India are also emerging as major tech innovation hubs,' WEF said in a statement.
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Business Standard
24-06-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Agnikul, GalaxEye, ePlane Co among 10 Indian startups on WEF list
Ten Indian startups working on cutting-edge technologies— from artificial intelligence to space tech — have made it to the World Economic Forum's prestigious list of top 100 emerging companies for 2025. The annual list by WEF tech pioneers highlights the most promising global innovators shaping the future across sectors. The Indian startups featured in the list include Equal, GalaxEye, Agnikul, CynLr, Dezy, Digantara, Exponent Energy, Freight Tiger, SolarSquare, and The ePlane Co. 'At SolarSquare, our mission is to build India's most trusted residential solar brand. Our full-stack integrated approach is designed to make rooftop solar reliable and hassle-free,' Shreya Mishra, co-founder at SolarSquare, said. The company has already solarised almost 30,000 homes through their platform and by the end of 2025, it aims to double the count to nearly 60,000. Notably, four portfolio companies— Agnikul, ePlane, CynLr, and GalaxEye — of deep-tech investor Speciale Invest made it to the list. Vishesh Rajaram, the managing partner of the venture capital firm, said, 'This global recognition affirms not only their audacious visions across space launch, flying taxis, robotic vision, and multi-sensor satellite intelligence, but also marks a pivotal moment for India's rise as a deep tech leader.' Suyash Singh, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of space-tech startup GalaxEye said, 'To be named along with other deep-tech pioneers from India and around the world is a proud moment for us. This recognition is a validation of our global vision of enhancing earth observation capabilities and providing actionable geospatial data to critical sectors around the world.' At present, the company is using its Series A funding of $10 million for the launch of its first satellite 'Mission Drishti,' which it targets to launch by the end of this year. Equal Identity is a platform enabling secure, real-time, consent-based data sharing for over 80 million people across financial services, insurance, healthcare, employment, and housing. In March 2025 alone, the company processed more than 101 million transactions and is likely to cross one billion annual transaction run rate in FY26, up from just 75,000 paid transactions in FY24. 'The trajectory highlights both the institutional demand for verified data and the trust in our privacy-first approach. As we look ahead, we're focused on strengthening this infrastructure further with deeper integrations, AI-led verification, and governance models that ensure personal data can be used responsibly to unlock access and opportunity,' said Keshav Reddy, the company's founder, adding that Equal's selection as a tech pioneer is a reflection of its scale, depth, and urgency of the infrastructure. Interestingly, last year, the same number of startups were part of the list. These included companies such as Amperehour, Cropin, Entri, HealthPlix, International Battery Company, Niramai, NxtWave, Pixxel, Sarvam AI, and String Bio.
Indian Express
21-06-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
Spacetech has arrived, and it's time for take-off: Vishesh Rajaram, co-founder, Speciale Invest
Vishesh Rajaram is the co-founder of Speciale Invest, a venture capital firm investing in deep tech, with a particular emphasis on spacetech. Speciale Invest is known for its early and consistent bets on Indian spacetech startups, such as Agnikul Cosmos, Astrogate Labs, GalaxEye, Kawa Space, and InspeCity. Its portfolio spans satellites, launch vehicles, and space infrastructure, supporting startups across upstream (hardware, launch vehicles, satellites) and downstream (data analytics, communication) applications. Vishesh began his career as a corporate banker with ICICI Bank before moving to Ventureast, an early-stage and growth-stage fund, as a Principal.. He is a qualified Chartered Accountant and holds an MBA from the Indian School of Business. Vishesh spoke to on the opportunities for spacetech startups in India, why the timing is right for investing in the sector, the unique problems that spacetech could solve, and ideas that failed to catch fire. Edited excerpts: Vishesh Rajaram: Let me give you a background. The venture capital world has gone through a wave of cloud, SaaS, mobile penetration, e-commerce, and fintech. They did not see the necessity of immersing themselves in the world of science and deep tech. So much was already going on that one did not break his head over deep tech. But we need to remember that India was essentially a manufacturing nation. We made motorcycles and cars, and we exported them. We also had the expertise of exporting precision aerospace components. You must understand that all the big conglomerates that made wealth between 1960 and 2000 were not into IT services, they were not into software. They were all traditional manufacturing companies. We do not recognise it, but we have a talent for manufacturing. The missing element was capital. We started our fund in 2017, and our focus was to invest in IP-rich companies, with differentiated tech and product, and spacetech is one of our focus areas. Others are energy, health, and advanced manufacturing. If you are selling milk or eggs, you can test it in three months, but if you are building a rocket, it will take you three years. So the challenge about science and deep tech investments is that they need a gestation period. The venture ecosystem has historically avoided such businesses. They do software, e-commerce, and fintech. They prefer a two- to three-year gestation period and see it as not risky. Spacetech is challenging because it presents the sort of risk that, traditionally, VCs in the country have not taken. However, the time is now right for deep tech investments. This is partly due to geopolitics and partly because of India's global positioning. It is also because the rest of the world is beginning to buy technology from us. Fifteen years ago, this was not the case. No one said they want to buy technology or put their satellite on our rockets. But that has changed. Today, India's credibility is significantly more than it was 15 to 20 years ago. Vishesh Rajaram: We are a very early-stage investor. When we invest, it is mostly at a business plan stage, and maybe some early prototype is available. One, we look at the team. What has the team done? What insights do they carry? What do they know that other people don't know? That allows them to go further and do different things. We pay a lot of attention to what it is that the team is doing that nobody else is, or what is very hard for other people to do. And therefore, if you are successful, you will end up being very monopolistic. We also care a lot about the velocity of market growth. All markets are large, but if the market is not growing, and if there are no strong pain points, why will someone give a chance to a small startup? Only if the pain is very deep and there is no solution, is there an opportunity for a startup. Then, even if the startup does not have a full product, we say, come and try it out. Let us make something work and run it as an experiment. Vishesh Rajaram: What most of us do not remember is that India was among the four or five space pioneers, which showed that we had a lot of talent, experience, and capability on the spacetech front. The question then was: Will the market grow? Twenty years ago, the spacetech market was dependent on the government, the defence industry, and university research. Commercial applications were not available since the cost of going to space and the cost of building anything in space was very expensive. Over the last 10 years, thanks to private efforts, there has been a consistent decline in the cost of launching a satellite and a significant decline in the cost of manufacturing a satellite. So suddenly, what was costing $50 million now costs $2 million. The economics of space have changed. There is a strong realisation that with the kind of data that is collected on Earth from space, we can make good business decisions around weather, insurance, defence, and agriculture. Therefore, there's an opportunity for this economy to begin and grow. At the time we began investing, this was only the tip of the iceberg. The sector was just beginning to heat up. Normally, in one sector, there's only one market variable that is moving. In this, there were two. The cost of going to space and the cost of making the satellite were going down. We had multiple things working in our favour. Therefore, for us, it was a sitting duck. Vishesh Rajaram: We have made six investments. There is Agnikul Cosmos, a company that uses 3D printing tech to take satellites to space. It takes six months to make a rocket. They said we would do it in two weeks, and they did it. That's our differentiator. Agnikul aims to provide on-demand launches for micro and nanosatellites, democratising access to space through affordable small satellite launch vehicles. There is GalaxEye Space, which is a satellite constellation company. They are developing India's first multi-sensor imaging satellites, combining synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and optical data to deliver high-resolution, all-weather imagery. The company aims to provide insights for industries like agriculture, urban planning, defence, and environmental monitoring. It would also contribute to disaster management and maritime surveillance, among other sectors. There is Astrogate Labs with a focus on space satellite is launched using a rocket, and once it is in space, it collects information. It still needs to send the information to Earth. But today, space communication happens on radio frequency, which is slow and expensive. Astrogate works on laser communications, thereby increasing the speed of communication and reducing its cost. There is InspeCity, which is essentially building maintenance capabilities for satellites. Their solutions aim to extend satellite lifespans through refueling, repositioning, and de-orbiting, reducing costs for operators and mitigating space debris. Their work supports the emerging in-space economy for sustainable satellite operations and helping global efforts to manage orbital congestion. There is Kawa Space, which focuses on satellite-based downstream data analytics, providing geospatial intelligence for industries such as agriculture, insurance, and urban development. By using satellite imagery and analytics, Kawa Space delivers insights to customers, helping them monitor assets, predict trends, and optimise operations. Their work aligns with the increasing demand for earth observation data. Vishesh Rajaram: Drug discovery is big. We will be able to discover drugs and molecules significantly better in what is called microgravity. Chemicals crystallise better when there is no gravity. On Earth, you cannot have a no-gravity environment. Therefore, having a microgravity environment would help pharmaceutical research. I think space maintenance could be the other one. Why do you have to keep sending satellites? Why can't you make satellites in space? Things like that. There will be substantial advances in existing uses of satellite data in agriculture, weather prediction, etc, but these are improvements per se, not something totally new. Venkatesh Kannaiah: Tell us about some spacetech startups globally that you think are solving some interesting problems. Vishesh Rajaram: Globally, we are seeing a fascinating wave of innovation across diverse areas of spacetech. A few standout startups are Inbound Aerospace (India) and Varda Space Industries (USA). They are building in-orbit manufacturing capabilities, using microgravity to produce materials such as high-grade pharmaceuticals and semiconductors that are difficult to manufacture on Earth. InspeCity (India) and Astroscale (Japan) are building cities in space, tackling maintenance of satellites in orbit, refueling and repairing satellites, and orbital debris removal, a massive problem as satellite constellations scale. Each of these startups has a new dimension of commercial space, moving beyond just launch and communications into data, manufacturing, and sustainability. Vishesh Rajaram: Rather than naming specific companies, I will highlight a few themes where spacetech ventures have historically struggled, often due to timing, regulation, or capital intensity. Space-based internet in the pre-Starlink era is one idea tried out by many startups in the early 2000s, which failed due to the lack of reusable launch vehicles, expensive satellite hardware, and no real commercial use case at the time. The market was not ready for this idea. There was the idea of asteroid mining, which was visionary but premature in both technology readiness and capital requirement. The time horizon was too long for most commercial investors. Vishesh Rajaram: India's spacetech ecosystem is at a turning point. What is working is that ISRO is opening up. The creation of IN-SPACe has been a game changer. It provides a clear regulatory path for private players to work with the ISRO infrastructure and data. More than 150 spacetech startups have emerged in India in the last five years, covering everything from launch to sensors to analytics. Companies like GalaxEye, Agnikul, Kawa Space, and Astrogate are now on the global map. Institutions like IIT Madras, IISc, and BITS Pilani have become innovation hotbeds, not just in research, but in spinning out real ventures. India has the building blocks for a thriving space economy. What we need now is demand aggregation, especially from strategic and commercial buyers, and a maturing capital stack.
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Business Standard
19-06-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Spacetech startup GalaxEye to build second satellite with 0.5 m resolution
Spacetech startup GalaxEye said on Thursday it is developing a second satellite amid growing global demand for sharper and faster geospatial insights. The satellite has near 0.5 metre resolution for quality insights needed in defence and other critical sectors. GalaxEye's first satellite, Mission Drishti, is scheduled for launch later this year. Drishti will have a resolution of 1.25 metres and serves as a milestone in demonstrating the company's proprietary technology stack, including a proven sensor system and data processing pipeline tested over 500 drone flights and spaceflight missions. GalaxEye's second satellite will deliver improved spatial resolution and reduce revisit time to under three days, significantly enhancing the responsiveness and utility of its constellation. 'Building on the experience from our first satellite — set to launch later this year — and the evolving needs of our defence customers, we're thrilled to take the next big step in scaling our constellation and deepening our mission impact,' said Suyash Singh, founder and chief executive officer of GalaxEye. 'What excites us most is that this second satellite will be entirely built in-house. As we move forward, we're committed to greater vertical integration—working closely with resilient partners across the satellite supply chain.' The second satellite offers real-time, all-weather capabilities that will serve sectors like disaster response, urban security, maritime awareness and risk intelligence, said GalaxEye. 'As early backers of GalaxEye, it's incredibly rewarding to see them announce their second satellite. The dual-use potential of their technology — spanning defence, national security, and commercial sectors — is truly exciting,' said Vishesh Rajaram, managing partner at Speciale Invest. With the launch targeted for late 2026 or early 2027, GalaxEye is undergoing mission concept and preliminary design reviews, and is strategically positioning to expand into high-priority international defence markets including the United States, West Asia and Europe.
