IN-SPACe Selects Three Startups to Build Indigenous Small Satellite Bus Platforms

As part of promoting the government’s Make-in-India initiative, three Indian space startups have been selected to develop and test homegrown small satellite platforms that can carry and operate various customer payloads.

The chosen startups—Bengaluru-based Astrome Technologies and Hyderabad-based Azista Industries and Dhruva Space—will receive ₹5 crore each to develop and demonstrate robust, modular, and scalable small satellite platforms. 

The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe), which announced this opportunity last year, reviewed 15 proposals submitted since July 2025 through a multi-stage evaluation process.

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This is part of IN-SPACe’s SBaaS (Satellite Bus as a Service) initiative, which provides ready-made satellite platforms so customers can launch their payloads without building a full satellite. 

The satellite buses under SBaaS will be a cost-effective way to host multiple payloads, serving both domestic and global markets. IN-SPACe, the autonomous agency promoting private participation in India’s space sector, formally signed contracts with the selected companies on Wednesday which officially starting the implementation of the scheme.

"By enabling indigenous satellite bus platforms and integrating them with India’s emerging small satellite launch capabilities, we are laying the foundation for India to become a preferred global destination for end-to-end small satellite manufacturing, launch, and hosted payload services,” said IN-SPACe chairman Pawan Goenka. 

IN-SPACe will support the selected companies through milestone-based grants and by providing access to ISRO facilities, IN-SPACe infrastructure, testing labs, and technical expertise. In later stages, the companies will be able to launch payloads on these satellite platforms, helping them progress from building satellites to executing complete space missions.

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“By providing standardised and flight-proven satellite bus platforms for hosted payload missions, we hope to reduce entry barriers for payload developers while strengthening domestic manufacturing capabilities and reinforcing India’s position in the rapidly growing global hosted payload services market," added Rajeev Jyoti, Director – Technical Directorate, IN-SPACe.

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