Pixxel raises $100M Series C led by Temasek and Seraphim

Pixxel has secured $100 million in a Series C funding round. According to the startup, this is the largest single investment round for an Indian spacetech company, surpassing the $60 million round raised by Skyroot Aerospace earlier this year.

The round was co-led by Singapore's sovereign wealth fund Temasek and UK-based spacetech investor Seraphim. New investors 360 ONE Asset and IMM Investment also participated, alongside existing backers Radical Ventures and growX ventures. The investment brings Pixxel's total funding to $195 million. The startup did not disclose its valuation.

Use of funds

The Bengaluru-based company will deploy the capital to expand its satellite sensing capabilities and further develop its Earth intelligence platform, called Aurora. Funds will also deepen work on sovereign space systems and increase satellite manufacturing capacity.

Pixxel said it would widen its sensing capabilities through its upcoming Honeybee constellation, high-resolution optical imaging satellites, and other technologies. The Aurora platform will act as a software layer, combining data from these satellites to generate insights for governments, businesses, and research institutions.

Production will be ramped up at Gigapixxel, the startup's satellite manufacturing facility in Bengaluru. Inaugurated in 2024, the facility was designed to handle more than 20 satellites simultaneously and manufacture up to 40 satellites per year.

"Years ago, we set out to build a health monitor for the planet," said Pixxel founder and CEO Awais Ahmed. "Hyperspectral imaging gave us a fundamentally new way to see Earth. This new investment gives us the scale to turn that vision into planetary infrastructure."

Technology and contracts

Founded in 2019 by BITS Pilani alumni Awais Ahmed and Kshitij Khandelwal, Pixxel develops hyperspectral Earth observation satellites. These capture light across many narrow wavelength bands, allowing them to identify materials and surface changes invisible to conventional imaging satellites. The data has applications in agriculture, mining, oil and gas, environmental monitoring, defence, and disaster management.

Pixxel currently operates six Firefly hyperspectral satellites, which it claims form the world's highest-resolution commercial hyperspectral satellite constellation. The first three were launched aboard a SpaceX mission in January 2025, marking the deployment of India's first private satellite constellation.

The startup has secured contracts from NASA and the US National Reconnaissance Office. It has also won multiple iDEX challenges from India's Ministry of Defence and was selected to lead the development of India's first public-private Earth observation satellite constellation under IN-SPACe. This proposed constellation will comprise 12 satellites with different imaging sensors.

Partnerships and ecosystem

Beyond Earth observation, Pixxel has partnered with AI unicorn Sarvam to develop Pathfinder, a 200-kilogram orbital data centre demonstration satellite. Pixxel will design, launch, and operate the satellite, while Sarvam will enable AI training and inference in orbit.

The fundraise occurs amid growing activity in India's private spacetech sector. In May, Skyroot Aerospace raised $60 million at a pre-money valuation of $1.1 billion, becoming India's first spacetech unicorn. It later completed the country's first private orbital rocket mission in July.

Other active startups in the ecosystem include Agnikul Cosmos, Digantara, Bellatrix Aerospace, GalaxEye, Dhruva Space, and SatSure, which are building capabilities across launch vehicles, satellite manufacturing, propulsion, and space analytics.