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Pixxel’s journey began long before the startup officially launched. In 2017, Pixxel founder and CEO Awais Ahmed was a finalist in the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition, and he was a founding member of Hyperloop India, the national team that built India’s first Hyperloop pod prototype. He was also the engineering leader. While still completing his bachelor’s degree, he and his team participated in his SpaceX Hyperloop competition and were the only winning team from India.
As a result, they were invited to SpaceX headquarters to build, demonstrate, and race a hyperloop vehicle. The experience of seeing firsthand his booster, the first rocket to land on Earth, where advanced rocket engines are manufactured at SpaceX facilities, led to his decision to dedicate his career to space innovation.
He and Pixxel co-founder and CTO Kshitij Khandelwal also participated in the IBM Watson AI XPRIZE competition. This is an opportunity to address some of the problems we’ve seen using technology. But there was a problem. In most cases, the satellite images of Earth that are freely available for analysis are many years old. And you couldn’t fix what you couldn’t see.
To verify whether this is a real concern facing people around the world, Pixxel reached out to a number of companies around the world that analyze satellite imagery and provide insights. There was an almost unanimous response that information-rich space imagery is indeed in short supply, and that companies would be willing to pay for that data. With this insight, Pixxel realized there was an emerging market for a new type of satellite imagery that it wanted to serve.
“As the need for more information-rich space imagery became publicly recognized, we recognized a growing market demand. This recognition led to the founding of Pixxel. ‘s goal is to fill the gap in the satellite imagery industry by providing accurate and upscaled images.”This vision not only meets the growing demand for such data, but also enables India’s private space It also extends to leading exploration journeys,” said Ahmed.
As a result, Pixxel was founded in 2019 by Mr. Ahmed and Mr. Khandelwal to build a global space data startup from India and lead India’s private space exploration journey.
Pixxel is a space data company currently building the world’s highest resolution hyperspectral Earth imaging satellite constellation and analytical tools to derive insights from the data. Pixxel launched the world’s first commercial hyperspectral Earth imaging satellite in 2021 and continues to innovate to leverage hyperspectral technology to build Earth health monitors.
“Pixxel’s hyperspectral satellites can capture images at hundreds of extremely narrow wavelengths across the electromagnetic spectrum, revealing critical data about the health of our planet. Hyperspectral constellations and advanced data analysis platforms both enable greater spectral resolution and enable the extraction of more specific information from remote locations. It provides up to 10 times more information compared to multispectral satellites in space,” explains Khandelwal.
With three hyperspectral satellites already in space, Pixxel is currently working towards launching six satellites by 2024 and 18 other satellites by 2025. Once completed, the satellite constellation aims to provide daily coverage of the entire world, helping detect, monitor and predict global phenomena across agriculture. Mining, environment and energy use cases.
Pixxel’s current venture funding totals $71 million, which its founders say is helping them move closer to their goal of building a global health monitor by 2025. Some of the company’s notable customers include Rio Tinto, DataFarming, Sanborn, EUSI, and EarthEye Space. more.
Pixxel’s next growth spurt revolves around the opening of a state-of-the-art spacecraft assembly, integration and test (AIT) manufacturing hub in Bangalore. Spread over 30,000 square feet, it is the first AIT facility for an Indian space technology startup, and the founders said they believe this state-of-the-art facility will significantly enhance the startup’s satellite manufacturing capabilities. . From design to fully tested and ready for launch within a few months.
Commenting on his global expansion plans, Mr. Ahmed said, “Currently, we are based in the United States with an office in El Segundo. We aim to have a big impact.” It will become global in the next few years. ”
fact sheet
- Name and designation: Awais Ahmed, Pixxel Founder and CEO
- Age as of February 1, 2024: 25 years old
- Number of co-founders: Kshitij Khandelwal, Pixxel Co-Founder and CTO
- Age as of February 1, 2024: 25 years old
- Number of employees: 180+
- Year of company establishment: February 2019
- Major investors: Google, Lightspeed India, Radical Ventures, Accenture Ventures, Jordan Noone of Relativity, Seraphim Capital, Ryan Johnson, Blume Ventures, and others
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