From Student Engineers to Space-Tech Trailblazers: The GalaxEye Story

A Spark from Hyperloop to Space Observation

In 2019, a group of students and alumni from Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) participated in the global SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition as part of “Team Avishkar Hyperloop”, and emerged as the only Asian team to reach the finals. As they worked together on high-speed engineering challenges, they began to see another frontier: observing Earth from space, and unlocking insights through advanced satellite imaging.

They asked themselves: Why must Earth-observation data be intermittent or limited by clouds, night, or weather? Why must industries settle for imagery that works only part of the time? That question sparked the founding of GalaxEye in 2021 (or 2020 depending on source) – a deep-tech space startup with a vision to build a multi-sensor imaging satellite constellation that delivers all-weather, day/night, high-resolution observations.

Founding Team & Roles

• Suyash Singh – Co-Founder & CEO: As CEO, Suyash leads strategy, vision, fundraising and execution. His background: aerospace engineering degree from IIT Madras; experience in deep learning and big-data analytics.
  
• Denil Chawda – Co-Founder & CTO: Leads technology and product architecture, especially the multi-sensor payload, satellite systems and imaging stack. The CTO driving the technical innovation.
  
• Kishan Thakkar – Co-Founder & VP-Engineering: Responsible for engineering leadership, integration of systems and product development.
• Pranit Mehta – Co-Founder & VP-Sales/Ops: Leads business development, customer engagement and go-to-market for the imaging/data services.
• Rakshit Bhatt – Co-Founder & VP-Product: Heads product strategy, user-experience and ensures that the data services meet commercial and government needs.

Together, they combine a potent mix: student engineering pedigree, space-tech ambition, and a young team committed to building from India but with global reach.

The Mission: Reimagining Earth Observation

GalaxEye’s public “About” page describes their vision succinctly:
“To make every square kilometre of Earth intuitively observable—no matter the weather, time, or terrain.”
Their founding story notes that they engineered what many believed unfeasible: a satellite that fuses radar and optical sensors in real time (so-called “Mission Drishti”) to deliver consistent, weatherproof imagery for critical sectors.
They position themselves not just as a satellite manufacturer, but as a data-platform: the mission is to provide “Reliable. Ubiquitous. Actionable.” imagery. This means delivering data as a service to industries such as defence, agriculture, insurance, infrastructure monitoring, aquaculture and more.

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Early Journey & Milestones

The company was founded in 2021 (some sources say 2020) and incubated at IIT Madras. In its first few years, GalaxEye achieved impressive milestones:
In Dec 2022 they raised a seed round of roughly USD 3.5 million, reportedly one of the fastest for an Indian space-tech startup.
By mid-2023/24 they completed development of a UAV-based Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) system, proving key imaging capabilities ahead of their satellite launch.
In Nov 2024 the startup announced a Series A funding of USD 10 million led by strategic investor MountTech Growth Fund, including participation by Infosys and other investors.

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The funding will be used to fast-track their first satellite launch (scheduled for 2025) and build a constellation for global all-weather coverage.,

They also claim India’s first privately built UAV-SAR system and partner with major aerospace players (e.g., ideaForge) for drone sensing applications.

Product & Technology: What Sets GalaxEye Apart

GalaxEye is building a hybrid imaging platform: combining Optical Multi-Spectral Imaging (MSI) and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) on the same satellite payload, enabling data capture regardless of cloud, night or terrain.

Their flagship mission “Drishti” aims to put this multi-sensor satellite into orbit, providing high-resolution, revisit-frequent imagery as a data-service. Their roadmap includes a constellation of microsatellites designed to cover the Earth every ~12 hours.
Use-cases:

• Defence & security: penetrating cloud/foliage, night-imaging capabilities.
• Agriculture & aquaculture: monitoring crop health, pond conditions, land use even under challenging weather.
• Insurance & infrastructure: post-disaster assessment, utility line monitoring, transmission-line inspections in all weather.

Challenges & Strategic Focus

Launching a space-tech startup in India (or globally) is complex: building satellites, payloads, rocket launches, space-regulation, data-markets and customer uptake — all within an ambitious timetable.

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Key hurdles for GalaxEye include:

• Technology risk & development: Multi-sensor payloads (optical + SAR) are complex. Early testing, UAV/SAR prototypes helped de-risk.
• Launch and constellation execution: Ensuring timely launches, regulatory clearances, supply-chain, and operational reliability.
• Data-service adoption: Beyond building satellites, the business model relies on customers using the data. Converting imagery into actionable insights, building a scalable downstream business.
• Market competition & economics: Earth-observation (EO) market is evolving; unit economics, revisit frequency, data latency, resolution all matter.
• Capital intensity: Space hardware and satellites require significant resources and longer time-horizons than typical software startups.However, the founders appear aware of these: their early success with UAV-SAR systems, rapid fundraising and partnership strategy (with drone maker ideaForge and strategic investor backing) show they are mitigating risk and building both hardware and business synergy.

Why Their Story Matters

The GalaxEye story stands out for several reasons:

• From students to space entrepreneurs: The founding team emerged from an IIT-Madras engineering competition team and turned that experience into a serious spacetech venture.
• Deep-tech ambition from India: Many space-tech ventures are globally centred in the US/Europe; GalaxEye shows Indian engineering and startups aiming to lead high-end satellite imaging capabilities.
• Mission with purpose: Their aim is not just imagery but making it “intuitively observable” everywhere—democratising Earth-observation for real-world sectors.
• Hybrid sensor innovation: Combining optical and radar into one platform is a differentiating technical approach that addresses a genuine market gap: weather/time/terrain constraints in imagery.
• Market timing: As governments and private sectors increasingly demand real-time, frequent, high-resolution Earth data (for climate, infrastructure, security), GalaxEye is building for the next wave of EO.

The Road Ahead: Vision & Next Steps

Looking forward, Galaa\xEye’s next phases include:

• Launching their first “Drishti” satellite in 2025, and scaling into a constellation for the 2026-27 timeframe.
• Scaling data-services and analytics downstream: turning raw imagery into actionable intelligence and recurring revenue for industries and governments.
• Building partnerships: with launch providers, satellite manufacturing, data-platforms, drone companies and downstream analytics companies.
• Execution of business model: data-as-a-service, subscription or enterprise contracts for all-weather imagery, building customer base in defence, agriculture, insurance.
• Enhancing technical capability: improved resolution (plans for 0.5m resolution) and faster revisit cycles (under 3 days) as reported.