To Infinity And Beyond: Indian SpaceTech’s Promising Future in 2023
A new era of engineering and technology, closely resembling science fiction is upon us. And much like the Industrial revolution of the past, SpaceTech is the chosen player propelling us towards a multi-planetary existence.
While 2020-21 marked the onset of India’s private space tech odyssey, 2022 has been the hallmark year for the ecosystem. It was the year when Indian space startups finally came of age and demonstrated the ability to build products not only for the country but for the global market.
Pixxel launched India’s first private commercial satellite with Shakuntala, Skyroot launched the first private suborbital rocket, and Agnikul inaugurated their first private launch pad. And these are just a few of the achievements.
Government Efforts And SpaceTech Investments Taking Off
Ever since the government introduced new space reform initiatives, their support in enabling private companies to address the gaps has only grown further. The formation of IN-SPACe to promote the private space sector has culminated in many breakthrough MoUs in 2022. Out of the USD 245.35 million the sector has received from the Centre in the last seven years, USD 198.22 million came post-2020.
Just this year alone, we’ve also seen record amounts of funding raised (almost 10X of last year’s), giving the Indian space startups the fodder, they need to reach higher orbits.
When Pixxel raised USD 25 million in March 2022, it was the largest amount raised by a space company, and also the first time an overseas venture capital fund invested in the Indian space ecosystem. Since then, with improved investment-friendly guidelines, international VCs and investor interest have been piqued with the peak arriving when GIV invested USD 50 million in Skyroot. And this is only expected to increase, especially since the space market in India is expected to touch USD 13 billion by 2025.
India To Lead Space Race in Next Few Years
Although the SpaceTech startups in the country are fairly nascent, one can’t help but be extremely bullish about the opportunities in the coming few years. There’s immense potential not just in space, but also across domestic sectors such as defence, agriculture, environment, monitoring, geographic information systems and weather forecasting to name a few.
Soon, we will see more and more Indian space startups enter the market and become space-proven. We anticipate satellite manufacturing, ground services and satellite services contribute heavily to pushing India’s space revolution, driven by the demand for higher bandwidth and lowest latency data needs.
Better and more unique datasets such as hyperspectral, thermal and SAR will see higher growth than multispectral/RGB imaging. While the deep space missions will continue to garner eyeballs, the focus will shift towards technologies that can help create a more sustainable and transparent world. We will see climate change, forestry and carbon use cases being prioritised more than ever.
What Indian SpaceTech Startups Expect In 2023
India’s space sector currently only accounts for 2 per cent of the global space economy. For us to truly establish ourselves as a space nation, there is a need for a liberal, transparent and open formal space policy that can provide trust to both entrepreneurs and investors. Government-led buying for space technology products and an easy FDI process will reinstate the country’s faith in space tech startups.
Additionally, we’re also hopeful that the government will allocate larger budgets and introduce a space-based Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI), similar to the one for large-scale electronics manufacturing, to level the playing field and encourage capability building and procurement within the country.
The Road Ahead
At Pixxel this year, we launched Shakuntala and Anand, totalling our tally to three low-earth orbit hyperspectral imaging satellites so far. These satellites have already started providing imagery that will give the team feedback and inputs to improve the form factor and imaging capabilities of the next batch of commercial-grade satellites. But this is just the beginning. Next year, we will launch six fully commercial-grade constellation satellites, set the bar for better data collection and become the first SpaceTech startup out of India to kickstart full-scale commercial operations.
Overall, India's space technology has a bright future in 2023 and beyond. Opening up the space economy has already heralded an era of growth and innovation. And by further taking advantage of the latest technology, improving access to capital and reforms, and promoting independent launch solutions, there’s no way to go but up.
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