Success Of Skyroot And Dhruva Spawns Spacetech Startup Wave In Hyderabad

Now, there is a surge of founders -- many of them former ISRO scientists and ex-Skyroot and Dhruva employees -- building companies across orbital computing, space debris removal, satellite cybersecurity, communications, testing infrastructure and critical space components.The result is what founders, investors and ecosystem enablers describe as India's most diverse private spacetech cluster. They attribute this to the success of early movers such as Skyroot and Dhruva, which proved that globally competitive space companies could be built from India."Sometimes you need one or two anchor companies with significant valuations. That is a big signal to space scientists and others that support is available for innovation in this sector and they can take the risk," Srikanth Tanikella, Managing Partner at Pavestone VC says.Industry estimates peg Hyderabad's spacetech ecosystem at around 95 startups, with 12-15 ventures added over the last two years. Together, these companies have raised over $331 million, with Skyroot and Dhruva accounting for nearly half that amount.Founders attribute Hyderabad's rise to a combination of aerospace and defence infrastructure, manufacturing capabilities, access to testing facilities, academia and ecosystem enablers such as T-Hub and T-Works."The ecosystem benefits when knowledge circulates. Sharing perspectives on funding, product development, regulation and market access helps strengthen the broader space sector," said Sanjay Nekkanti, CEO of Dhruva Space.CVS Kiran, co-founder & CEO of Red Balloon Aerospace, said these companies were not competing with each other, but globally. "The ecosystem is coming together to offer a complete package to the world," he adds.The spacetech ecosystem's growth has also attracted a wider pool of investors. Alongside sector-focused funds such as Bluehill Capital and Pavestone, family offices and mainstream venture investors are increasingly evaluating spacetech opportunities.This is a contrast from when Dhruva and Skyroot started, when access to capital was challenging. Chaitanya Dora, Co-founder of Dhruva Space, for instance, says he received a "yes" from the 163rd investor he pitched to. "The contrast with today is remarkable. Conversations have shifted from validating the existence of the market to discussing business models, scalability, and global competitiveness; a sign of how far the ecosystem has come in a relatively short period," he adds. Founders add that though the funding environment has improved significantly over the past two years, it remains largely focused at the seed and early stages. Growth-stage capital remains scarce."The challenge with Series B money is that it doesn't understand the benchmarks or milestones that define a DeepTech SpaceTech startup. People expect serious revenue or visibility of revenue, and that's not something you're going to see in most of these companies, especially in space," said Manu Iyer, co-founder and general partner at Bluehill Capital.Government initiatives such as IN-SPACe, the Research Development and Innovation (RDI) scheme and the Technology Adoption Fund have helped bridge some of those gaps. But founders concur that the next phase of growth will depend on moving beyond government demand."The challenge isn't just building the technology. You must prove it in space before customers are willing to pay for it," said Chiranjeevi Phanindra B, founder and CEO of Cosmoserve Space.Several founders also said government contracts often serve as an important validation milestone, helping startups attract private capital."India will reach its space-economy ambitions only when startups start building products beyond what the government is asking for and create entirely new demand," said Ronak Kumar Samantray, founder of TakeMe2Space.There are already signs of that shift. Hyderabad-based spacetech companies are increasingly targeting international markets and commercial customers. "We already see interest not just from India but from companies outside India because we are competing on both manufacturing scale and technology," said Radha Krishna Kavuluru, co-founder of Astro Voltaics.Companies such as Dhruva Space, Skyroot, Red Balloon and several newer startups are already working with overseas customers and partners, which they say reflects the growing global interest in space technologies and services built out of Hyderabad.The next challenge, founders said, is ensuring that capital, customers and policy support continue to keep pace as Hyderabad's spacetech ecosystem moves from experimentation to commercial scale.