Human beings have always been interested in the vast universe. Space, stars, galaxies, and black holes have always been topics of keen interest since times immemorial.
Every exploration enhances the desire to know about the space industry, making it a trending field of research with numerous scopes at a geo level. This is to ensure that the country can leave footprints of the country in space exploration.
With the advent of modernization, India has evolved in most sectors. Recent trends show that the country has ever seen advancements in the space industry. With so many new space startups being established over the years, around 60% of space companies fail in the intense competition in the sector.
According to trusted sources, it has been reported that India dominates 3% of the global space market that is approximated to be more than 350 billion US dollars. India is estimated to account for 5%, and a 2% stake in rocket launches in manufacturing satellites.
In the current scenario when India has shown development in various sectors, the ISRO has asked many aerospace startups to participate in space ventures actively, and utilize the resources of the country.
The aerospace industry is an essential sector in the economy. It has the capability to thrive in the economy and provide employment opportunities for the citizens of the nation.
The current valuation of the aerospace market is 350 billion USD dollars and India’s contribution to the valuation is significantly low accounting for around 2%. It is majorly because the private space companies are limited in India. As a result, the Department of Space in 2020, implemented the ‘Spacecom Policy’ to allow and promote the participation of private industries to actively take part in space-based secured communication.
With the talented human resource, India is blessed with, India has the potential to be the next space hub in the world.
The various programs introduced by the government have successfully helped in the setting of many space companies in India. The data extracted from various agencies show that there are a total of 40+ startups in India which are being funded by the Government. It is believed that technology will play a major role in the establishment of more space industries in India.
Top 10 Best Space Companies in India:
1. Agnikul Cosmos:
Agnikul Cosmos was founded in the year 2016. It is a privately-owned Indian aerospace manufacturer that is situated in National Center for Combustion R&D (NCRD) in IIT Madras, Chennai.
The objective of the startup is to develop and launch its small lift vehicle named Agnibaan that is capable of carrying a 100 Kg payload into a 700 Km orbit. The launch of the vehicle is expected to take place in 2022.
The company has stated that the rocket will be 18 meters long with a diameter of approximately 1.3 m and a mass of around 14,000 Kg. The engines used on the vehicles would be strictly LOX or kerosene-based.
The company was founded by Srinath Ravichandran and Moin SPM. Initially, the company was financed with a 3 crore INR with the objective to develop and launch its first rocket by 2021.
The space industry has managed to accumulate a sum of 4million USD by the end of 2020.
2. Skyroot Aerospace:
Skyroot Aerospace is an Indian private-based aerospace manufacturer, and launch service provider. The company is situated in Hyderabad. It was founded by the previously employed engineers and scientists from ISRO.
The company intends to launch small-scale lift vehicles for the small satellite market.
Currently, Skyroot Aerospace is working on the Vikram series of lift vehicles, which they are planning to launch by the end of 2022.
Apart from that, the company has even made contributions as it tests fired Raman-I hypergolic-upper fuel stage. The fuel stage is a component of Vikram I and the company were the first in the space industry to test the fuel stage.
The company has also been accredited for the launch of Dhawan-1 and Kalam-1.Dhawan-1 is regarded as the first cryogenic engine in India that is operated on Liquified natural gas. It has successfully tested the engine running on LNG, and LOX on 25 November 2021.
The experiment was carried out to demonstrate the technology that would incorporate the upper engine of Vikram-2 of the Vikram series.
The company has initially raised a sum of 2.3 million US Dollars. In addition, Skyroot Aerospace has even been accredited as the winner in National Startup Awards 2021.
Data collected from relied sources state that the company was able to raise a sum of approximately 11 million USD as of 20 May 2021.
The company has moreover received fundings from some of the major investors, such as Mukesh Bansal Founder of Myntra and Curefit, Graph Ventures, etc.
Skyroot has gained its name in the top 10 best Space Companies in India by achieving the 7th position in LinkedIn’s Top Startups of the year 2021.
3. Pixxel Company
PIxxel is a private manufacturer company started by BITS Pilani graduates Awais Ahmed, and Kshitij Khandelwal. The company aims to put more than 30 microsatellites into a sun-synchronized orbit by the end of 2020.
The company decided to launch its first satellite on a Soyuz rocket in 2020. Later, the company decided to launch the satellite with a PSLV rocket owned by NSIL in the early part of 2021. However, the launch of the satellite was delayed due to technical issues.
The company has announced to the public that the microsatellites would be able to provide high-resolution hyperspectral images. The satellites will moreover provide global coverage after every 24 hours.
As of now, the company has received total funding of around 2.3 million US dollars from various ventures including Techstars, Omnivore VC, and others in 2021. Previously, it has accumulated a sum of 5 million US dollars in 2021.
What makes the SpaceTech company make it to the list is that it is the first aerospace company that has qualified for the 2019 Techstars Startbust Space Accelerator in LA, California from India.
4. MeghVaahan:
MeghVaahan is an Indian aerospace and Defence Company that designs, develops, and manufactures different types of ground, air, and water vehicles, anti-drone systems for civil application, aircraft, and spacecraft engines for navigation purposes in addition to components of the engines.
It is a non-government company that is registered at the Registrar of Companies, Chennai. MeghVahaan was established in 2021. It is directed by Miryala Prasanth and Pushpalatha Miryala.
The headquarters are situated in Chennai, India. Even though the company has been active for a short span of 10 months, it has been able to raise significant funding of 20.5 thousand US Dollars.
5. NoPo Nanotechnologies:
Nanotechnology is an emerging field in the branches of science. It uses the characteristic of nanoparticles which have definite properties.
NoPo Nanotechnology was founded in 2011 and is an Indian aerospace company which is situated in Banglore, Karnataka, India.
The main objective of the company is to produce high-quality HIPCO walled Carbon Nanotubes which can be used in the space industry. The company has also collaborated with space technologies with the primary aim to reduce mass fractions allowing safer trips, and increased payload of the space vehicles.
The company is in association with R&D services for the development of new products and support until operations handover.
NoPo Nanotechnologies have emerged as a huge distributor of HIPCO nanotubes on three continents and has 6 active customers, including the Indian Navy, and ROCHEM.
Apart from providing metallic nanotubes, the company also provides services like optical black coating, semiconducting nanotubes, aligned nanotubes films, nanotube strain sensors, and many products based on the latest advancements in the field of technology. The products are actively being used in various industries.
The company has raised a capital of 150 thousand US Dollars.
6. Astrogate Labs:
Astrogate Labs is a space technology startup venture, which is situated in Bengaluru, India. The company builds the latest technologies based on optical or laser communication terminals.
The aim of the company is to provide secure optical communication systems to overcome the challenges of radio-based communication. The innovation would enable the satellite operators to receive and transmit more data from Earth to space faster.
The company’s future goals involve establishing itself in space-to-space laser links in a subsequent mission.
Astrogate Labs was founded by two IIT alumnus in the year 2017 who were previously engineers working for Team Indus named Nitin Singh, and Aditya Kedlaya.
The main objective of improving space communication lies in the idea of increasing the bandwidth by ten times at a reduced cost.
In addition, the company has been included in the list of top best space companies in India because it has received a massive investment from technology-oriented firms including Anicut Angel Fund, and SuprValue.vc.
The space tech company has aggregated a sum of 200K US Dollars. The company’s continuous efforts to develop a continuous communication system at lower mass forms and higher data rates while helping the space industry to overcome the problems of low bandwidth followed by high spectrum licensing costs.
7. Kawa Space:
Kawa Space is an aerospace startup that intends to decode the planet pixel by pixels. The company is responsible for designing software and critical infrastructure for space.
The company has introduced its flagship product, Kawa Platform that provides its services worldwide. The company has successfully developed a GEOINT platform that will help the users to use intelligence from space using a simple API call.
The company was founded by Krishna Nair in 2018. The headquarters are situated in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
The main service provided by Kawa space is that it organizes the space data, and makes it accessible, queryable, and useful for the people universally.
The product team of Kawa space is responsible for setting up GIS services and lowering the cost by avoiding the setting of services in an entire division. The API services cover a wide range including Night Light Characteristics, population density, demographics, built settlement, rainfall monitoring, 3D Surface Area, and Green Clusters.
The reason why Kawa Space is regarded as one of the top space tech companies in India is that it provides the fastest, easiest, and cost-effective way to use the data available from space for business-related purposes.
The space-based company has acquired a total establishment of around 600K US dollars. The company is majorly funded by investors including Mukesh Bansal, Cloud Capital, AngelList, and Vijay Shekhar Sharma.
8. Bellatrix Aerospace:
Bellatrix Aerospace is an Indian-based private aerospace manufacturer and small satellite company. The space tech industry was founded in the year 2015, and its headquarters is situated in Banglore, India.
The main aim of the industry is to launch their own rocket named Chetak by 2023. The rocket will be powered by the number of Aeon engines that will be developed by Bellatrix. Liquid methane will be used as the fuel to run the rocket. The aerospace sector has previously announced that they would use water as a propellant for an electric propellant system.
Later in the same year, it was announced that Bellatrix has partnered with Skyroot Aerospace, which is also regarded as one of the best aerospace ventures in India.
The venture was founded by Rohan M Ganapathy and Yashas Karanam. It is based out on the Indian Industry of Technology.
The company deals with rocket engines, electric propellant systems, and the launching of space vehicles.
The company has gained finance approx to 3 million US dollars in the span of seven years. The major investors of the company include SINE, Survam, First Cheque, GrowX ventures, Karsemven Fund.
Currently, the startup is focused on a joint mission with Skyroot aerospace. And is developing a “space taxi’, an OTV
(Orbital Transfer Vehicle).
9. Dhruva Space:
Dhruva Space is an aerospace manufacturer whose headquarters are situated in Hyderabad, India. The venture is mainly devoted to the development of small-scale satellites for the commercial, academic, and governmental markets.
It was founded by Sanjay Nekkanti 12 years ago and is a private affiliated company.
In 2014, the venture has signed a deal with AMSAT India to develop HAMSAt-2.
Many years later, the same space tech industry has collaborated with Skyroot Aerospace for a joint mission.
The company raised capital of 6.7 million US dollars from major investors including Mumbai Angels, Punit Motihar, Ravikant Reddy.
10. Antrix Corporation Limited:
Antrix Corporation Limited is a government-owned company under the ownership of the Department of Space. It was established in 1992 and deals with providing technical consultancy services and transferring technologies to the industry. The headquarters are situated in Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
The venture is included in the top space tech companies in India because it has achieved many victories in the aerospace industry.
The venture has successfully launched the W2M satellite for Eutelsat. The company has successfully provided services of reliable satellite systems to some of the famously known brands such as Hughes, Matra Marconi, World Space, etc.
It has also provided many IoT and TTC support to many international space agencies.
In the year 2014, Antrix Corporation Limited was able to successfully launch five satellites including the France SPOT 7.
The agency was awarded the prestigious status of ‘Minaratna’ by the government in 2008. The turnover of the company was recorded to be 18 crores approximately in 2014 and 2015.
Wrap Up:
Due to the many provisions implemented by the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre) the main highlight was to help the private companies be able to start prospering in the aerospace sector.
This has resulted in the successful participation of many private agencies as India experienced the emergence of nearly around 100 start-up companies.
The progress is not strictly limited to the space sector. With the development of the space industry, interest has also been developed in the heavyweight industry.
Seeing the progress, many global-based technologies have started to join hands with the space industries and help them by funding their projects.
This includes Amazon Web Services which has come forward to bring a revolution in the space agencies and make a debut in the billion-dollar market.
edited and proofread by nikita sharma
