Digantara to double down on defence customers, missile tracking after $50 million fund infusion

Digantara founder and CEO Anirudh Sharma

Bengaluru-based space tech startup Digantara, which on December 16 announced the close of a $50 million Series B round, plans to use the capital to double down on defence customers, as the commercial space market has not yet matured, founder and CEO Anirudh Sharma has said.

Speaking to Moneycontrol, Sharma said the company’s journey has made one thing clear: "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."

Founded in 2020, Digantara initially focused on tracking satellites and space debris, also known as space situational awareness (SSA).

It involves monitoring, tracking, and characterising objects in Earth's orbit to ensure the safety and security of space operations.

While the global space economy has expanded, Sharma said most meaningful spending still comes from governments and defence agencies.

"For you to build a sustainable business, you have to choose whether you want to do both and spread your efforts, or focus on one first and then expand," he said. "We focused pretty much on defence."

The shift is not a pivot, Sharma said, but an “evolution” of Digantara's capabilities.

"What we developed is hardware and software infrastructure that can track fast-moving objects,” he said. "I don’t want to just track space debris or satellites anymore. I want to track anything that’s fast moving."

This has pushed the company into missile detection and tracking, including monitoring hypersonic and sub-orbital threats.

"In today’s geopolitical context, missiles are a huge problem," Sharma said. "So we are using the same base layer of technology built for SSA for missile detection and tracking purposes."

Digantara works with six defence customers in India, the US, the UK, Japan, Australia and Singapore. The credibility of winning defence contracts played a key role in closing the Series B round.

Investors were reassured by Digantara’s ability to navigate complex procurement processes, Sharma said.

The $50-million capital will primarily be deployed towards scaling infrastructure and accelerating deployment timelines.

A significant portion will go into launching a larger constellation of satellites, which Sharma described as "internal capex" required to support long-term defence programmes.

Another major focus area is Digantara’s US expansion. "You can’t build things in India and sell to the US defence market. They need 'Made in America', " Sharma said.

The company is investing heavily in building capabilities in the US, including larger satellite platforms of up to 150 kg, compared to smaller platforms developed in India.

"We've split our portfolio very clearly," he said. "India focuses on software, algorithms, astrodynamics and optical payloads. In the US, we’re focusing on bigger platforms and infrared sensors needed for missile tracking."

Digantara has a small team in the US and plans to scale it up significantly, including hiring senior leadership for the American entity. The US operations will function as a separate, security-cleared unit to comply with defence regulations, with classified programmes run entirely by US citizens.

Beyond infrastructure, Sharma said the funding allows Digantara to move faster across multiple fronts without building redundant teams.

"What we do in the US should be different from what we do in India," he said. "That way we can attack two different things at the same time and reduce the time taken to reach orbit."

Over the next year, the company plans multiple launches followed by a larger constellation deployment in late 2026.

Sharma said immediate priority is execution. "Most importantly, it’s about delivering the contracts we’ve already won," he said. "These are large-scale defence projects, and execution takes time."