New Delhi, June 2 (KNN) The Bengaluru-headquartered space-tech startup, Pixxel becomes the first startup in the country to get a USD 36 million Series B funding from Google.

This is Google’s first investment in India’s space-tech sector. The investment follows Google chief Sundar Pichai’s commitment at Google For India 2022 to make an investment of USD 300 million in homegrown startups.

Google’s marquee investment in India came in a USD 4.5 billion investment for Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries-backed Jio Platforms, in July 2020. The company’s first investment in an Indian startup came in June 2014 via its investment arm Google Capital, when it invested in home-grown information technology (IT) services startup Freshworks (then Freshdesk), four years prior to the company shifting its headquarters to the US.

Since then, it has invested in multiple Indian startups, including Bengaluru-based property-tech firm CommonFloor in January 2015, health-tech firm Practo in August 2015, Jaipur-based GirnarSoft’s automobile listing platform CarDekho in March 2016 and January 2019, Bengaluru-based hyperlocal delivery firm Dunzo in December 2017 and January 2021, and Delhi-based fintech firms DotPe and Progcap in March 2019 and June last year respectively.

Its investment in Pixxel marks a first in the space-tech sector for Google in India. The latest funding round takes Pixxel’s disclosed funding rounds up to USD 68.3 million, following a USD 25 million Series A round in March last year, and a USD 7.3 million seed round in the year before.

Ireland-headquartered information technology (IT) services firm Accenture also made a strategic investment in Pixxel in August last year, the size of which was not disclosed.

Awais Ahmed, co-founder and chief executive of Pixxel, told Mint that the latest funding round will give the company “at least three years of runway".

“The first batch of our commercial satellites, through which we will begin offering full-fledged satellite-based imagery and data analytics services to paying customers, is in the final development stages. We expect to be ready with the satellites by the end of this year, and conduct a launch of six of these satellites as part of our hyperspectral imagery constellation, by March next year. This will help us commence our services officially by the first half of next year," Ahmed said.

He added that Pixxel has already signed over 50 commercial contracts with paying customers from government bodies, forestry, oil and gas, and climate monitoring agencies from around the world.

“We expect to draw monthly recurring revenue from our clients starting at the end of first half of CY24, which will further help us expand our runway," Ahmed said.  (KNN Bureau)