Digantara has closed a $50 million Series B funding round and plans to channel the proceeds toward strengthening its defence customer portfolio
The Bengaluru-based start-up operates in space situational awareness, tracking satellites and orbital debris to support secure space activity
CEO Anirudh Sharma said commercial demand remains limited, making defence-led revenue essential for spacetech firms
Spacetech Start-Up Digantara Secures $50 Mn in Series B to Focus on Defence Clients
Spacetech start-up Digantara has raised $50 million in Series B funding, marking one of the larger recent investments in India’s private space sector. The Bengaluru-headquartered company intends to sharpen its focus on defence-related clients using the new capital
Spacetech Start-Up Digantara Secures $50 Mn in Series B to Focus on Defence Clients
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Bengaluru-based spacetech start-up Digantara has announced the close of a $50 million Series B funding round, according to MoneyControl reports. The platform has planned to use the fresh capital to double down on defence customers.
Founded in 2020, Digantara began by building capabilities in space situational awareness (SSA), focusing on the monitoring, tracking and characterisation of satellites and space debris to ensure the safety and security of operations in Earth’s orbit.
“It’s quite difficult for any space company to just have the commercial segment as their revenue stream. Commercial demand is quite insignificant at this point in time for everybody,” founder and CEO Anirudh Sharma told the news publication.
Expanding its footprint in the US is also a key priority for Digantara. Sharma said access to the US defence market requires local manufacturing, as American buyers prefer domestically built systems, the report added.
To support this push, the company is ramping up investments in the US, including the development of larger satellite platforms weighing up to 150 kg, significantly bigger than the smaller satellites currently built in India.
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Meanwhile, Aditya Birla Ventures founder Aryaman Vikram Birla had earlier said that spacetech is indeed the next frontier for innovation offering unprecented opportunities for growth.
"The globalspace market is expected to cross $1 trillion by the next decade. We have strong belief in Digantara’s ability to develop advanced data led ‘Space Situational Awareness’ solutions forclients globally,” Birla had said.
These bets have came around at a time when India’s space tech applications are growing at 12% CAGR and is projected to reach ₹ 1.2 lakh crore by 2025.
The Government pushes via policies like the Indian Space Policy 2023 and the ‘Make in India’ initiative in space tech to boost domestic manufacturing, innovation, and self-reliance in the space sector.
Reliance isn’t the only giant who is seeing potential in the 2018 founded space tech firm. In February 2024, the venture capital arm of billionaire K M Birla-led Aditya Birla Group forayed into the space technology sector by investing in Digantara.
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