Infosys Invests ₹17 Crore in Spacetech Startup GalaxEye

Infosys eyes space tech sector with strategic investment in GalaxEye | Mint

Stocks to watch today: Global IT services giant Infosys announced on September 19 about its plans to invest up to ₹17 crore (approximately $2 million) in space tech startup GalaxEye Space Solutions. The investment, part of the Infosys Innovation Fund, marks the company's entry into the burgeoning space technology sector, keeping it in focus on September 20. Infosys share price closed in the green, up 0.26 per cent at ₹1,897.00, on September 19, on NSE. The company enjoys a market capitalisation of ₹7,87,659.95 crore. Infosys stock price hit its 52-week high on September 2, 2024 at ₹1,975.75, as per NSE. The investment will be made through a combination of equity and series A compulsory convertible preference shares, the company said in an exchange filing. Infosys expects to complete this all-cash deal by September 30, 2024, resulting in a minority stake not exceeding 20 per cent of GalaxEye's outstanding share capital. GalaxEye, incubated at IIT Madras and headquartered in Bengaluru, is at the forefront of developing multi-sensor satellites and synchronization platforms. These advanced systems generate comprehensive, all-weather, high-resolution datasets with wide-ranging applications across industries such as defence, insurance, logistics, infrastructure, agriculture, and disaster management. Leveraging Infosys Topaz, an AI-powered offering utilizing generative AI technologies, the collaboration aims to drive operational improvements and service quality for Posti. Additionally, Infosys will employ its Cobalt suite, including the Live Enterprise Application Management Platform (LEAP), to accelerate Posti's cloud journey and boost business productivity. Petteri Naulapää, CIO & SVP of ICT and Digitalization at Posti Group, commented on the renewed collaboration: "We are pleased to announce the renewal of our collaboration with Infosys for another seven years. By harnessing the power of AI through Infosys Topaz and cloud capabilities through Infosys Cobalt, we aim to create a more efficient and customer-centric organization." Karmesh Vaswani, EVP and Global Head of Retail, Consumer Goods & Logistics at Infosys, added: "This extension demonstrates our unwavering commitment to delivering next-generation services and solutions specifically tailored to address the unique challenges faced by our clients in the Nordics."

Infosys to invest ₹17 crore in SpaceTech start-up GalaxEye

IT Services major Infosys, on Thursday, announced that it is investing up to ₹17 crore, approximately $2 million, in a Bengaluru-based SpaceTech start-up, GalaxEye Space Solutions, as part of Infosys Innovation Fund. According to the company's regulatory filing on the BSE, the investment, which is expected to be completed on or before September 30, will consist of equity and Series-A compulsory convertible preference shares. Infosys will have a minority holding, not exceeding 20 per cent of the outstanding share capital of the company. GalaxEye was incubated at IIT Madras and is building multi-sensor (Synthetic Aperture Radar + Multi-Spectral Imaging) satellites and synchronisation platforms. This will generate comprehensive all-weather, high-resolution and intuitive datasets. The technology and the datasets are said to benefit industries such as defence, insurance, logistics, utilities, infrastructure, agriculture, disaster management and mining. "SpaceTech is a frontier technology with the potential to unlock significant value to businesses globally and create high-impact solutions at scale. The downstream applications of space technology and the datasets powered by AI and Analytics present a potential for data-driven decisions spanning multiple industries. Infosys Innovation Fund seeks to partner with AI and DeepTech start-ups like 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," the company stated. SHARE Copy linkEmailFacebookTwitterTelegramLinkedInWhatsAppRedditPublished on September 19, 2024

Infosys to invest Rs 17 crore in IIT M-incubated spacetech startup GalaxEye

The cash investment will involve Infosys picking up a minority stake, less than 20%, as part of the series A round to pick up equity and compulsory convertible preference shares.Infosys on Thursday said it has agreed to invest in space-tech startup, GalaxEye Space Solutions Pvt Ltd up to Rs 17 crore (approximately $2 million) as part of Infosys Innovation Fund. The cash investment will involve Infosys picking up a minority stake, less than 20%, as part of the series A round to pick up equity and compulsory convertible preference shares. The funding round is expected to be completed on or before September 30, 2024, Infosys said in a regulatory filing. Bengaluru-based GalaxEye is a space-tech startup for Earth Observation that builds multi-sensor satellites and synchronization platform. GalaxEye generates comprehensive all-weather, high-resolution and intuitive datasets. The downstream applications of space technology and the datasets powered by AI and Analytics presents a potential of data-driven decisions spanning multiple industries, the statement said. In August, GalaxEye had announced a fund raise of $6.5mn as part of the Series A funding led by venture capital (VC) funds Mela Ventures and Speciale Invest. The round also saw participation from drone manufacturer ideaForge, with additional investments from other VCs including Rainmatter, Navam Capital, Faad Capital, and Anicut Capital. In 2022, the startup received seed capital from angel investors including Prashant Pitti - cofounders of EaseMyTrip, Abhishek Goyal - cofounder of data platform Tracxn, Nithin Kamath - founder and CEO of broking platform Zerodha and Celesta Capital partner Ganpathy Subramaniam. Infosys Innovation Fund SpaceTech is a frontier technology with potential to unlock significant value to businesses globally and create high impact solutions at scale, Infosys said. Infosys Innovation Fund was launched in 2015 to invest in entrepreneurial ventures around the world. Its portfolio of investments include Trifacta, ideaForge, TidalScale, AirvizSpeck, Whoop, Stellaris Venture Partners and US-based early stage fund The House Fund. It has made exits from two investments - Waterline Data and Unsilo, as per its website. "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 statement further said. GalaxEye GalaxEye was founded in 2021 by a team of five alumni of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, who have previously worked together as part of Team Avishkar Hyperloop, a student competition team at IIT-M, which qualified as the only Asian Finalist at the SpaceX Hyperloop Competition 2019. The founders include Suyash Singh, Denil Chawda, Pranit Mehta, Rakshit Bhatt and Satya Chakravarthy. According to Tracxn, Chakravarthy has founded two more companies - ePlane and Aerostrovilos. It now has a 50-member team which works on the technology and datasets that can potentially benefit various industries such as defense, insurance, logistics, utilities, infrastructure, agriculture, disaster management and mining.

Spacetech Startup GalaxEye Bags INR 17 Cr From Infosys

GalaxEye aims to build the world's first multi-sensor earth observation satellite, alongside a constellation of indigenous micro-satellites with advanced data fusion capabilities IT giant Infosys is investing INR 17 Cr (about $2 Mn) in Bengaluru-based spacetech startup GalaxEye's ongoing Series A funding round to acquire a minority stake. In an exchange filing, Infosys said that the investment will be made through the Infosys Innovation Fund, which focuses on collaborating with artificial intelligence and deeptech startups to develop next-generation solutions for its clients. The transaction is set to be completed by September 30, following which the IT company will own a minority stake, not exceeding 20% of the outstanding share capital of the startup. Last month, the startup raised INR 55 Cr (around $6.5 million) from investors including Mela Ventures and Speciale Invest. Other participants in the funding round include Rainmatter Capital, Navam Capital, Faad Capital, Anicut Capital, and drone tech startup ideaForge. CEO Suyash Singh then said that the funds would facilitate the launch of the startup's first satellite, the Drishti Mission, by mid-2025. GalaxEye then said that it would close the funding round by September. In July, dronetech startup ideaForge also invested INR 8.28 crore in GalaxEye in its Series A round with an eye on developing drone-based sensors capable of penetrating fog and foliage. Founded in 2021 by Singh, Denil Chawda, Kishan Thakkar, Pranit Mehta, and Rakshit Bhatt, GalaxEye aims to build the world's first multi-sensor earth observation satellite, alongside a constellation of indigenous micro-satellites with advanced data fusion capabilities. It is pertinent to note that India is home to over 150 spacetech startups, including notable names like Pixxel, Agnikul, and Skyroot. The sector has benefited from government initiatives and the active involvement of venture capitalists, fostering a robust ecosystem. Between 2014 and 2023, Indian spacetech startups raised over $285 million in funding, reflecting growing investor confidence in the sector, which is projected to present opportunities exceeding $77 billion by 2030.