Deepika Padukone, one of the Bollywood’s highest paid actors, along with the group of venture capital investors have infused $3 million (approx ₹21 crore) into spacetech startup Bellatrix Aerospace, cited yourstory.
The spacetech startup will focus expanding its team, which comprises 14 members as of now, and demonstrate its thruster technology in space.
Yashas Karanam, co-founder of Bellatrix Aerospace, said that lead investors IDFC-Parampara, StartupXseed, Karsemvem Fund, and Survam Partners led the pre-Series A round. The investors also included Deepika Padukone (through KA Enterprises), GrowX Ventures, and the incubators CIIE and SINE, he added.
Bellatrix Aerospace, an IISc-incubated spacetech startup, is based out of Bengaluru, was founded in 2015 by Rohan M Ganapathy and Yashas Karanam.
It is a research and development company developing orbital launch vehicles (rockets) and electric propulsion systems for satellites.
Presently, the startup is reviewing NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and European Space Agency standards to make sure their technology meets global standards.
Moving ahead, the startup also aims to build its own launch vehicles.
“The private space industry in India is becoming an interesting space for VC investments, with Indian companies competing aggressively with global counterparts. We evaluated many companies in this area and found the Bellatrix business model and team to be a promising bet. The company will now focus on building world-class products and setting up a global footprint,” Jatin Desai, general partner of IDFC-Parampara said.
Bellatrix hopes to complete its Series A funding round by the end of 2020, and set up offices in the US and Europe, according to Ganapathy.
On the other hand, there are other spacetech startups which are working on the same page as Bellatrix, includes Deep Space, Momentus Space Industries, and Tethers Unlimited.