InspeCity Raises ₹100 Cr To Fund Four Space Missions

Spacetech startup InspeCity has raised ₹100 Cr (around $10.4 Mn) in its pre-Series A funding round co-led by veteran investor Ashish Kacholia and Speciale Invest. The round also saw participation from Antler India, Shastra VC, and a host of existing backers and angel investors.

The Thane-based startup plans to deploy the freshly raised capital to fuel four in-orbit missions over the next 12-18 months and push its in-space servicing technologies towards flight qualification and commercial deployment. It also plans to expand its team.

Speaking to Inc42, InspeCity cofounder Arindrajit Chowdhury said that the startup is going to focus on three key areas – government-backed R&D projects, upcoming space missions and the productionisation of its propulsion systems. 

About the missions in the pipeline, Chowdhury said that the projects will demonstrate the company’s capabilities in rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO), propulsion and robotics. 

Some missions will involve a single satellite, while others will require the startup to deploy both a target and a chaser satellite. 

Chowdhury disclosed that the startup has completed functional and environmental testing of its propulsion system and received clearances from ISRO labs

“We have now cleared all the functional and environmental testing and received clearances from all the ISRO labs. We are at a stage where we can integrate the propulsion system with the satellite and fly it,” he added. 

Founded in 2022 by Chowdhury and Tausif Shaikh, InspeCity is building in-orbit satellite servicing and deorbiting solutions. 

While the initial focus of the startup was to build large structures in space, the founders eventually narrowed the immediate focus to technologies that could enable autonomous construction and satellite servicing in orbit.

Its broader in-space servicing stack includes GITA for spacecraft propulsion and mobility, CHAKSU for sensing and proximity operations, RAMA for robotic manipulation, and SPARSH for cooperative docking and in-orbit propellant transfer.

Prior to this funding round, InspeCity raised $5.6 Mn in its seed funding round last year which was also led by Kacholia.

The latest round comes at a time when the Indian spacetech sector is seeing rapid growth, driven by policy reforms, cost arbitrage, rising patient capital and high-quality engineering talent. As a result, investor interest is also rising in the sector. 

Earlier this year, 360 ONE Asset launched a multi-stage defence and space strategy fund with a target corpus of ₹1,000 Cr. 

In May this year, Skyroot Aerospace became India’s first spacetech unicorn after it raised $60 Mn in a round co-led by Sherpalo Ventures and GIC. 

Prior to this in April, another spacetech startup GalaxEye also lapped up ₹44.2 Cr in its extended Series A round from existing backers. In the same month, Bellatrix Aerospace also secured $20 Mn in its Pre-Series B round led by Cactus Partners.

At the heart of all this is the homegrown space economy, which is projected to become a $44 Bn opportunity by 2033.

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