Six funded Pixxel satellites in works

Pixxel will launch its third demo satellite on Saturday, as high-resolution images from its micro-satellites are finding takers across a range of sectors from agri-tech, climate care to oil and gas.

In April, the Bengaluru-based company launched a 15-kg low earth orbit (LEO) satellite through a SpaceX rocket.

“We are building six, fully funded commercial satellites. These are much larger [compared to the demo satellites], with much longer lifetime, and from which we will be able to do daily coverage almost every two days,” founder and chief executive Awais Ahmed told ET.
Pixxel was founded by Ahmed and chief technology officer Kshitij Khandelwal, who are alumni of the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani.

They had earlier said in a blog post that Pixxel’s six satellites would be its first phase of commercial satellites that would entail commercial sale of data.

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Pixxel began as a startup building satellites that would beam high-quality earth imaging data which could provide actionable information for, say, pipeline bursts to irrigation loss to deforestation trends in an area.

The company has paying customers for its two demo satellites.

Pixxel raised $25 million in Series A funding this year, the largest fundraise by an Indian space tech company. The fund infusion also involved UK-based space tech venture capital firm Seraphim Space Capital and Canada’s Radical Ventures.