End-to-End space engineering solutions provider Dhruva Space recently announced that it has raised 22 crores INR led by IAN Fund and Blue Ashva Capital. The firm is gearing up to launch new offerings like Satellite as a Service, Space-Grade Solar Arrays and Ground Station Solutions, both nationally and globally.

Headquartered in Hyderabad and Austria, the company is already executing orders worth several million dollars and is well set to expand its client base to other key locations, including the US and the Middle East.

The company was launched in 2012 by Sanjay Nekkanti, an alumnus of SRM University and part of the team that built India’s first student satellite and has been joined by Abhay Egoor, Krishna Teja, and Chaitanya Dora, all alumni of BITS-Pilani, to offer satellites coupled with Earth Stations and Launch Services as an integrated or individual Indian made solution to power space-based strategic applications to Indian and overseas clients.

“We are the only Indian private entity to secure an order for end-to-end Design and Development of Space-Qualified Solar Arrays for Satellites. With our passion for creating exceptional small satellite systems to help space exploration technology meet human imagination, we are already working on launching our first satellite for a client. We are glad that the latest funding came at the right time. This fundraise will enable us to launch new solutions and expand our footprint to more unique markets both nationally and internationally,” said Sanjay Nekkanti, co-Founder, Dhruva Space.

Padmaja Ruparel, a co-founder at Indian Angel Network (IAN), said over the next decade, it is estimated that nearly 30,000 satellites will be launched into orbit. There needs to be a fundamental change in how the satellites are designed, manufactured, and launched to enable such rapid and large-scale deployment of space assets.

The company has already started to foster industry-academia collaborations and have already collaborated with BITS – Hyderabad and the Indian Institute of Technology – Hyderabad. The company is incubated in the European Space Agency’s Business Incubation Centre in Austria, providing them access to the European market and technology.