Spacetech Startup Pixxel raises Undisclosed funding from Accenture
- ByStartupStory | August 30, 2022
Indian space-tech startup Pixxel has received an undisclosed strategic investment from Accenture Ventures, the investment arm of the multinational IT services company. After Canadian firm Radical Ventures led Pixxel’s $25 million Series A fundraising round, which was revealed in March 2022, Accenture Ventures is now the second global fund to have invested in an Indian space-tech business.
the global space industry is set to grow to $1 trillion in revenues by 2040, and Pixxel’s technology “has the potential” to “predict a famine before a crop infestation takes over or stop an oil spill before it endangers delicate oceanic biospheres.” said Tom Lounibos, managing director of Accenture Ventures, in a statement.
A joint statement by the two companies added that the data generated for on-ground services can offer “8x more information and 50 times better resolution than existing in-market options.”
The data gathered for on-ground services can provide, “8x more information and 50 times better resolution than existing in-market solutions.”,Pixxel and Accenture mentioned in a joint statement.
The banglore based startups ongoing Series A investment round gets expanded by the most recent round of funding which is yet unknown. Additionally, Accenture Ventures stated that by making this investment, it will become a “strategic” partner of Pixxel.
The Pixxel company, located in Bengaluru, is developing a constellation of low-Earth orbiting satellites that can produce “hyperspectral imaging.” The latter describes satellite images of Earth’s surfaces by extending beyond the visible spectrum of light and providing a higher amount of information about the situation on the ground. Such imaging has a wide range of uses, including assessing risks to marine ecosystems that are in danger of extinction, forecasting and avoiding forest fires, providing information for agricultural activities, and more.
In April 2022, the business used SpaceX Falcon9 rocket to launch its first satellite. This, however, was meant to be its second satellite launch; the first had been delayed as a result of alterations to the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) space missions’ launch schedule by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). According to Awais Ahmed, chief executive of Pixxel.
The firm plans to add six more satellites to its constellation by the start of 2023, and it may even add more satellites depending on its needs.
About Pixxel
Young entrepreneurs Awais Ahmed and Kshitij Khandelwal founded Pixxel, the space data company in 2018. The startup is building a constellation of hyperspectral earth imaging satellites and the analytical tools to mine insights from that data. Pixxel’s satellites collect photographs that will provide up-to-date data for monitoring the climate, predicting crop yields, building cities, and disaster response.