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"\nBengaluru based, Indian space tech startup, Pixxel has raised $5 million in seed funding. The round was led by Blume Ventures, growX ventures and Lightspeed India. The round also included contributions from Inventus Capital India and other angel investors including Stanford Angels and Ryan Johnson, a veteran in the earth imaging space.In conjunction with the funding, Ryan Johnson, Founder and former CEO at Blackbridge, a Canadian earth-imaging company, and ex-President at Planet Labs, one of the largest satellite imaging companies in the world, will be joining the Board of Directors at the company.Pixxel had earlier raised $700,000 in pre-seed funding from Techstars and growX ventures and others in June 2019, bringing its total funding to date to $5.7 million.The company will utilize these funds to expand the team, strengthen the technology and accelerate progress towards the deployment of its constellation.Pixxel is building a constellation of earth imaging small satellites that will provide global coverage every 24 hours for tackling some of the world&amp;amp;rsquo;s most pressing problems. The microsatellites that Pixxel is manufacturing are very compact, not more than the size of a mini-refrigerator (weight close to 15kg). Pixxel also makes sure that its satellites deorbit after their lifetime, thereby not contributing to the problem of space debris.Founded in February 2019 by then 21-year olds Awais Ahmed and Kshitij Khandelwal while still studying in their final year of undergraduate studies at BITS Pilani, Pixxel claims its satellites will collect information-rich data at a much higher quality than today&amp;amp;rsquo;s satellites. The data will then be analyzed using Pixxel&amp;amp;rsquo;s proprietary machine and deep learning models in order to detect, monitor and predict global problems and phenomena. The first satellite is scheduled to launch towards the end of this year on a Soyuz rocket.Speaking on the funding, Awais Ahmed, CEO, Pixxel said, &amp;amp;ldquo;Space technology has tremendous potential to make life on earth better and more sustainable. Our satellites will bring down the benefits of space down to earth and help us see the unseen through a unique dataset that offers an unprecedented level of detail. We&amp;amp;rsquo;re glad that some very high-quality investors have decided to partner with us on this long journey and acknowledged the potential of our technology and vision in making lives on earth significantly better.&amp;amp;rdquo;&amp;amp;ldquo;The recent announcement by the Indian government to set up IN-SPACe and privatize space by encouraging startup participation has also come at the right time for us. We look forward to building from India for not only this country but the world&amp;amp;rdquo;, he added.Hemant Mohapatra, Partner at Lightspeed India said of the funding, &amp;quot;The micro-satellite movement, together with easier and cheaper access to space, has led us closer than ever to the dream of providing real-time, 24x7x365 coverage of full planetary data. With COVID-19, we are seeing imagery demand shift even faster away from drones and airplanes to satellites. Their platform-centric approach to satellites, payload, data, and associated AI-led analytics is one of the boldest and most comprehensive we have seen, and we are very excited to go on this journey with them!&amp;quot;Sanjay Nath, Managing Partner at Blume Ventures adds, &amp;amp;ldquo;Pixxel has identified a unique opportunity in the remote sensing space, to solve huge problems across industries that have never been tackled before. The time for space tech is now, driven by many tailwinds - the proliferation of microsatellites, reduced launch costs, and the need for more real-time deep intelligence on our planet. The founding team has a special spark, and I still remember meeting Awais and Kshitij for the first time on campus in their final year of engineering. Pixxel is a true Indian deep-tech company, led by young and passionate founders, building for the globe - exactly the kind of bold play we like backing!&amp;amp;rdquo;The new funding will strengthen Pixxel&amp;amp;rsquo;s plans for its first satellite launch later this year and accelerate the development of the second satellite which the team plans to launch next year. The bigger plan is to deploy a total of 30 satellites by December 2022 for its global constellation.In 2019, Pixxel was the only Asian participant selected to be a part of the Techstars Starburst Space Accelerator, a first of its kind space focused accelerator where the company worked with space industry stalwarts such as NASA JPL, US Air Force, Lockheed Martin and Maxar among others.\n"
<https://www.cnbctv18.com/startup/indian-space-tech-startup-pixxel-secures-5-million-in-seed-funding-6677451.htm>