Google Becomes Major Investor In India's Pixxel Startup By $36 Million Investment

Alphabet Inc's Google is leading a $36 million funding round for Bengaluru-based Pixxel, a satellite-image startup, in the country's first major investment in the space sector since the government's privatisation policy was announced in April.

Pixxel, founded in 2019, is constructing a constellation of satellites capable of identifying mineral deposits or crop productivity by analysing an image's spectral signature.

Clients include Rio Tinto Ltd and DataFarming, an Australian agritech company, according to Pixxel.

Accenture PLC is among the investors who have contributed more than $71 million to the startup. Pixxel did not say how much Google had invested or what the valuation was.

Pixxel's founder and CEO, Awais Ahmed, predicted that the company would be "the most valuable space tech company in India after this investment."

Skyroot Aerospace, a rocket and launch provider, was valued at an estimated $163 million, according to Tracxn, a startup tracking service.

"We work with satellite data, and Google does a lot of work around that with agriculture and the environment," Ahmed explained. "They also have Google Earth... so it was a combination of those things that led to them seeing a benefit."

Pixxel is one of many private companies looking for a boost since India opened up the space sector, encouraging startups to deliver broadband services such as Starlink and power applications such as supply chain tracking.

In April, the government unveiled its framework for private-sector space policy.

The funding comes at a time when startups around the world are struggling to raise capital. Following the failure of Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit launch company, space startups, in particular, have come under fire.

They created Pixxel after concluding that existing commercial satellite images lacked detail. Instead of just assigning primary colours to each pixel, Pixxel's satellites take in and analyse a broad spectrum of light, a technique known as hyperspectral imaging.