Space Start-Up Plans to Build India's First Private GPS Constellation

A Chennai-based start-up VyomIC on Tuesday said they are planning to build India's first private global satellite constellation to provide high-precision positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) services.

The start-up, founded by alumni of IIT-Madras, has raised USD 1.6 million in pre-seed funding as the first step towards realising their dream of putting in low earth orbit (LEO) satellites for providing PNT services.

The pre-seed round for VyomIC was led by Speciale Invest, with participation from BYT Capital and DeVC.

"The funds will be used to advance the development of VyomIC's LEO-based PNT payload, support its spaceborne demonstration mission, and scale team hiring and business development efforts," a company statement said.

The start-up has been founded by Lokesh Kabdal, Vibhor Jain and Anurag Patil, who led India's student-led hyperloop initiative and also dabbled in commercial drone swarm deployments.

"We are not just building an Indian alternative to GPS – we are building a next-gen global system, engineered for autonomy, security and precision," said Vibhor Jain, co-founder of VyomIC.

The start-up aims to provide centimetre-level positioning and nanosecond-level timing – critical for applications in defence, finance, telecom, and autonomous systems.

VyomIC's technology aims to deliver spoofing-proof and jamming-resistant signals, overcoming the fragility of existing systems like GPS and GLONASS. With LEO satellites, the system offers high precision, faster convergence, stronger signal power, and better coverage in urban and signal-contested environments," the statement said.

Additionally, VyomIC's constellation would also unlock indoor PNT enabling navigation in closed spaces and buildings that were previously inaccessible, it added.

"In a world increasingly shaped by autonomy, defence tech, and time-critical infrastructure, resilient navigation becomes non-negotiable. VyomIC's vision of a sovereign constellation addresses this need head-on. We're thrilled to back a team that's executed ambitious projects and is now taking on one of the most foundational layers of modern civilization—PNT," Vishesh Rajaram, Managing Partner at Speciale Invest, said.

The startup's long-term vision includes launching a full-fledged constellation to serve global users with secure, real-time navigation and timing services – laying the foundation for the autonomous systems and sovereign infrastructures of the future.