IAN Alpha Fund Boosts Space Endeavors: Supports Dhruva Space’s Series A2 fundraise of INR 78 Crores, Elevating Total Funding to INR 123 Crores!
The funds will enable the Hyderabad-based space-tech company to establish spacecraft manufacturing and testing capabilities, and launch customer missions with the larger satellite buses, namely P-30 and P-90.
April 22nd, 2024: Dhruva Space, a National Award-winning full-stack space-tech company based in Hyderabad, India, has successfully closed its Series A2 round with INR 78 Crores. This round saw participation from IAN Alpha Fund, echoing IAN Alpha Fund’s commitment to invest in deep tech and emerging sectors.
All the major existing investors doubled down and invested in this round, endorsing the growth and potential of Dhruva Space. IAN’s long-standing relationship with Dhruva Space has been the cornerstone of their success, showcasing a unique synergy built on trust and shared vision. With Dhruva’s total funding in Series A now reaching INR 123 Crores (~ $14 million) including INR 45.51 Crores from Series A1, the partnership between IAN and Dhruva Space continues to flourish, propelling innovation in the space industry.
Poised to be a key player in India’s space-tech industry, Dhruva Space is setting up the first phase (1.2 lakh square-foot) of their 2.8 lakh-square-foot world-class spacecraft manufacturing facility in Hyderabad to invest in continued innovation upon the existing product line to go to the global market. Dhruva Space has successfully completed four Space missions over the last two years, making the company a prime choice for customers across civilian and Government verticals.
In the last two years, Dhruva Space has completed four Space missions including the Thybolt satellites mission in November 2022 and the LEAP-TD mission on 01 January 2024, which observed the validation of the company’s P-30 nanosatellite platform. Building on this, the coming years will see several customer launches with the Dhruva Space’s P-30 and P-90 microsatellite platform. This highlights Dhruva Space’s extensive business engagements worldwide, including collaborations with CNES, Kinéis, Comat, Swedish Space Corporation, an Australian company for the LEAP-1, and various satellite imagery providers globally.
Sanjay Nekkanti, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder, Dhruva Space, said, “This funding round is a testament to the international recognition of Dhruva Space’s capabilities and long-term impact. Our vision has always been to provide cohesive full-stack technology solutions to customers to go to Space frequently and securely, at a competitive price point. With the increasing demand for satellites and satellite-enabled services globally, the funding will be instrumental in supporting the industrialisation and manufacturing of Dhruva Space’s full-stack products, enabling significant team growth, increased development of capability and infrastructure, and fueling the international expansion of our business.”
Padmaja Ruparel, Senior Partner, IAN Alpha Fund, said, “We are very excited by the stellar team of Dhruva Space founders : Sanjay Nekkanti, Chaitanya Dora Surapureddy, Abhay Egoor and Krishna Teja Penamakuru. They demonstrated their ability to build innovative products for one of the most difficult sectors in the country, in a resilient and capital efficient way. Their expertise and excitement built our confidence that Dhruva Space will create a place for itself in the global space tech industry.”
IAN Alpha Fund:
IAN Alpha Fund, a Rs. 1000 crores (US$125mn) SEBI registered AIF Category II VC Fund, is the2nd in IAN Group’s series of Funds. The Fund will explore investment in sectors such as fintech, healthtech, renewable energy, deep tech, agritech, medtech, hardware and electronics, manufacturing, Web 3.0, Metaverse, Industry 4.0, SaaS, D2C. The Fund will invest in innovative propositions solving real problems for India and the world , with sustainable business models enabling scale by leveraging technology. With the IAN Alpha Fund, IAN continues its legacy of building a portfolio of high-quality companies by founders who not only understand the customer need but have leadership qualities to build high growth & valuable businesses .
About IAN Group:
IAN Group is the country’s single largest platform for seed and early-stage investment platform with IAN Angel Group, BioAngels, a series of Venture Capital Funds, IAN Fund I & IAN Alpha fund enabling entrepreneurs to raise from Rs. 50 lakhs to Rs. 50 crores from quality investors who provide funds, mentoring and global market access. The platform is sector-agnostic and has funded innovative start-ups over the past 18 years, in 19 sectors across India and 7 other countries. IAN has been listed by Forbes as one of iconic business and economic events of Independent India, over 75 years along with LIC, NASSCOM, RBI, Naukri.com amongst others.
About Dhruva Space:
Dhruva Space, founded in 2012, is a Full-Stack Space Engineering Solutions provider based in Hyderabad, India, and in Graz, Austria. The company is active across Space, Launch, and Ground segments and supports civilian and defense clients worldwide.
Dhruva Space offers Satellite/s teamed with Earth Station/s and Launch Services as an integrated solution or individually as technology solutions to power space-based applications on Earth and beyond.