Google Enters The Space-Tech Sector Boldly With “Pixxel”: Raised $36 Million Round Of Funding For The Bengaluru-Based Start-up

Google led a $36 million Series B round of funding for Bengaluru-based Pixxel, a space technology start-up that is constructing a constellation consisting hyperspectral imaging satellites. Since the government’s privatization strategy was introduced in April, this is the first significant investment made within the Indian space industry.

Pixxel, created in 2019, can be considered to be one of the earliest Indian space-tech businesses, which has already launched an independent commercial satellite. For a variety of sectors, including agricultural, energy, mining, and environmental surveillance, it intends to give high-resolution and high-frequency information and analysis. A technique known as hyperspectral imaging uses data from hundreds of different wavelengths of light to identify minute patterns as well as modifications on the surface of the planet that are not perceptible to the unaided eye or traditional multispectral detectors. By examining the spectral signature for an image, hyperspectral imaging, for instance, might pinpoint mineral resources or agricultural yield.

Investors such as Accenture PLC, Radical Ventures, Lightspeed India Partners, Blume Ventures, and Sparta Group have contributed more than $71 million to Pixxel. The amount of Google’s investment or valuation that was represented were not made clear by Pixxel. Pixxel’s founder and CEO, Awais Ahmed, claimed that following the investment, the business will become the highest coveted space-tech organization in India.

The funding comes after Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s announcement that the company will spend $300 million in domestic entrepreneurs at “Google For India 2022” in the month of December of last year.

For Google in India, their funding in Pixxel represents their first venture in the space-tech industry. According to Caesar Sengupta, Vice President in Google, Pixxel is at the vanguard of an emerging era of space technology innovation that might fundamentally alter how Google perceives and takes care of the Earth. He said that Google has been delighted by Pixxel’s staff, technology, and mission and that they are eager to working with them as they expand their business and deploy their satellites into space.

Google’s current geospatial data as well as analytical services, including Google Earth, Google Maps, and Google Cloud, will be enhanced by Pixxel’s satellites. Additionally, it will make use of the technological resources and know-how of Google’s cloud to preserve, handle, and disseminate its information and discoveries to clients all over the globe. It additionally serves as a member of Google’s Launchpad Accelerator programme, which gives businesses in developing markets the opportunity to utilize Google’s network as well as guidance and technical help.

When Canada’s Radical Ventures headed Pixxel’s Series A investment round, it became a pioneering space-technology startup to secure money from a major international investor. Following Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace receiving $50.5 million by Singapore-based investor, GIC, Google’s investment marks the 3rd occasion ever where an international organization has made an investment in an indigenous space company.

Use of Funding raised by Google

The most recent capital round, according to Awais Ahmed, would provide the business with no less than 3 years of runway. He continued by saying that Pixxel has so far entered into more than 50 business contracts with paying clients from governmental organizations, forests, petroleum and natural gas, and surveillance bodies for the climate, belonging to different parts of the globe.

Pixxel’s grandiose goal of creating the first and highest-resolution hyperspectral satellite network will be made possible by the recent infusion of funds. With the help of this constellation, international agencies will be able to closely track important environmental parameters in unparalleled clarity and at a faster rate.

The innovative hyperspectral satellites from Pixxel are capable of taking pictures at a wide range of electromagnetic spectrum wavelengths. This cutting-edge software offers insightful information on a variety of environmental factors, including emission levels, contamination of water, petrol leaking, oil spills, the makeup of the soil, ecosystem diversity in forests, and agricultural performance. Pixxel’s satellites provide as much as ten times greater data and a 50-fold improvement in spectral resolution than current multispectral satellites.

Additionally, the funds will be used to expand the company’s satellite network and recruit more engineers for the company’s analytical structure, that employs AI to evaluate and decipher hyperspectral data. As part of SpaceX’s Transporter-4 mission, Pixxel intends to send off its inaugural satellite in April, accompanied by other satellite launches later in the year. By 2025, the start-up hopes to create a network of 30 satellites that will offer daily revisits and worldwide coverage.

Besides strengthening these goals, Pixxel will use the money to expand Aurora, its analytics platform driven by AI. Through increased accessibility, Aurora intends to democratize hyperspectral analysis and revolutionise the manner in which environmental information is used for strategic decision-making.

The outstanding list of investors for this startup, which includes Lightspeed, Radical Ventures, Accenture Ventures, among others, additionally shows their belief in Pixxel’s mission and ability to influence improvements in environmental surveillance throughout the world.

Pixxel is one of the companies Google has invested in as part of its larger initiatives to encourage Indian start-up ecosystem as well as promote creativity in cutting-edge technology. Other Indian firms like Dunzo, Glance, InMobi, and VerSe Innovation have also received funding from Google.

We are thrilled to have Google join us as an investor and partner in our journey to democratize access to hyperspectral data and insights.

Google shares our vision of using space technology and AI to address some of the most pressing challenges facing our planet, such as climate change, food security, and natural resource management.  – Ahmed

Ahmed claims that a trip to Elon Musk’s SpaceX during the course of a student contest to create a prototype “hyperloop” transport pod gave him the inspiration to establish a space company. Together with his co-founder Kshitij Khandelwal, he embarked on a mission to create an AI framework which could utilise satellite data to forecast agricultural yields, spot illicit mining, and monitor natural calamities. When they realised that the detail in the already-available, commercial satellite imagery was insufficient, they established Pixxel. Hyperspectral imaging, which involves taking in and analysing a wide spectrum of light rather than merely designating primary colors to every pixel, is a technique used by Pixxel’s satellites.

Published By Naveenika Chauhan