Information technology firm Infosys on September 19 said it will invest Rs 17 crore ($2 million) in spacetech startup GalaxEye, which is building a multi-sensor satellites and synchronisation platform.
"Infosys Innovation Fund seeks to partner with AI and DeepTech startups such as GalaxEye to complement its capabilities and jointly co-create next-generation solutions bringing the power of spacetech to help its clients navigate their business transformation," Infosys said in a release.
The Bengaluru-based IT company will acquire a minority holding, not exceeding 20 percent of its outstanding share capital.
Infosys' Innovation Fund will invest in equity and Series A compulsory convertible preference shares and expects the deal to close by September 30, 2024.
On August 1, GalaxEye Space announced the closing of its $6.5 million investment round led by Mela Ventures and Speciale Invest. The round also saw participation from ideaForge, with additional investments from Rainmatter, Navam Capital, Faad Capital, and Anicut Capital.
The startup had said that the funds would be deployed to launch its first satellite -Drishti Mission- in 2025 and further develop its multi-sensor payload technology.
In 2022, the startup raised a $3.5 million seed round led by Speciale Invest, and a clutch of investors including Zerodha founder Nithin Kamath and EaseMyTrip CEO Prashant Pitti.
The IIT-Madras incubated firm generates comprehensive all-weather, high-resolution, and intuitive datasets. These datasets in turn will potentially benefit various industries such as defense, insurance, logistics, utilities, infrastructure, agriculture, disaster management, and mining.
The downstream applications of space technology and the datasets powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and analytics present a potential for data-driven decisions spanning multiple industries, Infosys said in the release.
The company further said SpaceTech is a frontier technology with the potential to unlock significant value to businesses globally and create high-impact solutions at scale.
The startup has also been working with drone companies such as ideaForge in defence segment. With ideaForge, GalaxEye is developing SAR payloads for drones having immediate and critical applications for defense, it said.
Also read: Ahead of satellite launch in 2024, GalaxEye launches drone-based imaging prototype
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