Dhruva Space Bags ₹105 Cr Under RDI Fund For Satellite Platform

Spacetech startup Dhruva Space has secured ₹105 Cr ($10.9 Mn) in grant support under the Centre’s Research, Development & Innovation Fund (RDIF) for ‘Project Garud’, a next-generation 500 kg-class satellite platform aimed at enabling large-scale constellation deployments.

Project Garud aims to build a standardised and production-ready satellite platform for large-scale deployments across telecom, earth observation and national security use cases. 

The development comes months after Dhruva Space moved to raise funds in its ongoing pre-Series B round in February this year. The startup proposed to raise ₹38.7 Cr from investors including IAN Alpha Fund, GVFL, Blue Ashva Capital and Pradeep Sinha, following its ₹51.76 Cr fundraise in November 2025.

Earlier in February, the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) selected Dhruva Space, alongside Astrome Technologies and Azista Industries, to develop indigenous small satellite bus platforms. 

Under the programme, the startups received grants of ₹5 Cr each to build modular and scalable satellite bus systems.

According to the Hyderabad-based startup, the latest initiative will help reduce dependence on foreign satellite systems and support high-volume manufacturing of up to 500-600 satellites annually.

Founded in 2012 by Sanjay Nekkanti, Chaitanya Dora Surapureddy, Abhay Egoor and Krishna Teja Penamakuru, Dhruva Space provides end-to-end space engineering solutions, including small satellites, ground stations, launch solutions and associated mission support for commercial, government and academic customers. 

The startup is currently focussing on sharpening its commercial launch roadmap. It deployed its first commercial satellite mission, LEAP-1, in August 2025 aboard SpaceX’s reusable rocket, Falcon 9. 

Dhruva Space cofounder & CTO Egoor said Project Garud represents the “industrialisation of satellite manufacturing from India” and will help position the startup as a globally competitive spacecraft OEM and subsystem supplier. 

He added that the platform is being developed for constellation-scale deployments across communications, intelligence and strategic applications, with long-term plans to support MEO and GEO-class missions as well.

The grant was formalised during the inaugural Enterprise Technology Evaluation agreement signing and first fund disbursement under the government’s ₹1 Lakh Cr RDI scheme yesterday. 

Launched in July 2025 by the Department of Science & Technology (DST), the RDI scheme focuses on sectors such as deeptech, AI, robotics, space, biotech, climate tech and the digital economy, while supporting India’s push for technological self-reliance under the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ vision.

The scheme aims to boost private sector participation in high-impact research and strategic technologies.

This comes at a time when India’s spacetech sector is evolving rapidly, with the market projected to reach $77 Bn by 2030.

Earlier this month, Skyroot Aerospace raised $60 Mn (around ₹570 Cr) at a pre-money valuation of $1.1 Bn, becoming India’s first spacetech unicorn.

Around the same time, GalaxEye launched the world’s first OptoSAR satellite with all-weather imaging capabilities and established communication with the satellite. Separately, Pixxel partnered with Sarvam AI to develop orbital AI data centres powered by Sarvam’s foundational AI models.

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