Bengaluru-based space technology startup Pixxel has raised $5 million in seed funding led by Blume Ventures, GrowX Ventures and Lightspeed India, as it readies its first earth imaging satellite for launch into low-Earth orbit this November.

The round also saw participation from Inventus Capital India, Stanford Angels and Ryan Johnson, co-founder of satellite imaging company BlackBridge which was acquired by Planet Labs. Johnson will also join Pixxel’s board of directors.

Pixxel, which was founded in early 2019 by Awais Ahmed and Kshitij Khandelwal, will utilise the capital to launch their first satellite in November atop a Russian Soyuz rocket, and build and launch its second satellite sometime in mid-2021.

It will also utilise a part of the capital to build its proprietary data platform for analysis of satellite images.

“The reason we raised $5 million is it provides us enough capital for a couple of backup launches in case the first one doesn’t go well,” said Awais Ahmed, co-founder and CEO of Pixxel. “It’s also enough money for us to achieve our next milestone of having hardware up in space and generating enough business traction to go out and get customers.”

Once its hardware is proven in space, Pixxel plans to quickly create a constellation of 30 earth imaging satellites that will be up in space between the end of 2022 and mid-2023. The company has lined up customers such as Satsure and Skymet to buy its data in India, along with other global agriculture, oil and gas and weather tracking companies.

“Pixxel has identified a unique opportunity in the remote sensing space, to solve huge problems across industries that have never been tackled before,” said Sanjay Nath, Managing Partner at Blume Ventures. “The time for space tech is now, driven by many tailwinds – the proliferation of micro satellites, reduced launch costs, and the need for more real-time deep intelligence on our planet.”

Pixxel is one among the five shortlisted nominees in the Best on Campus category for the ET Startup Awards 2020.

The company claims its cost to build and operate satellites will be as low as a tenth of some of its rivals from the US and Europe, assuming that the launch costs will be quite similar for all players globally. Pixxel says this along with the unique capabilities of its satellites will set it apart from rivals such as Planet Labs and DigitalGlobe.

Pixxel is now one among a handful of space-tech startups in India, including Agnikul, Bellatrix and Skyroot, that have been backed by traditional startup investors, which have begun actively looking at the sector owing to opening up of the market for satellites and launch vehicles not only globally, but also in India.