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EDGE 2020: Innovative Space Startups Steal Limelight

In Kerala
February 03, 2020

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
Three innovative startups who have made their mark in the country’s space industry became the cynosure of all eyes on EDGE 2020.

Of them, Kawa Space, a Mumbai based space tech founded by Kris Nair and Bala M in 2019, builds and operates infrastructure in space on behalf of enterprise and corporate clients.

“Our earth observation satellites are used by customers in financial services, government departments, strategic risk management and agriculture,” said Nair. The company has raised funding from Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma as part of its Pre-Series A funding round.

It has also won a contract to build satellites for the Indian government and other anchor customers of the company in the private equity, infrastructure, agriculture, transportation, financial services and risk management industries.

he second, Berlin Space Technology (BST) is a specialist for small satellite systems and technology. BST offers reliable and cost-efficient solutions for high resolution earth observation with up to 1.5 m Ground Sampling Distance on the global market.

“All our products can be bundled with comprehensive training and technology transfer programmes,” said Tom Segret of BST.

The third one, Dhruva Space, is based in Hyderabad. Dhruva Space is one of the pioneers in the private space industry in India. Founded by Sanjay Nekkanti and his co-founder Chaitanya Dora, Dhruva Space provides end-to-end solutions, from building small satellites and making ground sensors, to launching them and monitoring them via earth stations.

“We have raised Rs 5 crore in a recent round of angel funding carried out by Mumbai Angels (MA) Network and other external angel investors,” said Nekkanti.