Funding will enable Pixxel to speed up the deployment of its Firefly constellation and other upcoming missions

December 09, 2024 09:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

BENGALURU, India & LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Pixxel, a US-India-based space technology company building the world’s highest-resolution hyperspectral satellite constellation, today announced the closing of $24 Million in additional funding as part of its Series B round. This new investment brings the total Series B funding to $60 Million. With this, Pixxel has raised a total of $95 Million across all funding rounds to date.

“Pixxel’s proprietary technology will be transformational and adaptable to monitor for enhancing crop health, climate change, managing resources more effectively and protecting our environment. This partnership underscores our commitment to support Pixxel’s growth plans and reflects our broader purpose-led strategy, demonstrating how innovative technology can generate positive environmental outcomes.”Post this

The Series B extension round added new investors, M&G Catalyst and Glade Brook Capital Partners, who join existing backers Google, Radical Ventures, Lightspeed, and others. This funding positions Pixxel as one of the highest-funded space-tech startups in India and the highest-funded hyperspectral imaging company globally, reinforcing its mission to build a health monitor for the planet through advanced earth observation satellites and drive impactful climate action.

The funds will enable Pixxel to accelerate the development and launch of Pixxel’s entire constellation of 18 commercial hyperspectral satellites planned for the near future. It will also support the growth of Pixxel’s software offerings, including Aurora, its AI-driven Earth Observation platform, enabling seamless analysis and actionable insights for diverse applications from hyperspectral data.

Additionally, the funds will drive Pixxel’s plans to expand its satellite manufacturing capacity, scale its operations for upcoming missions, and enhance its capability to provide a full spectrum of satellite manufacturing services—from small satellites to advanced imaging payloads for other organizations and governments.

“This funding reflects the bold vision we’ve set out to achieve at Pixxel and echoes the investors’ confidence in Pixxel’s technological capabilities,” said Awais Ahmed, Founder and CEO of Pixxel. “The new infusion of capital will help us launch more satellites quicker, transforming how humanity understands and acts on the challenges of our time. We look forward to building a business that continues to make a meaningful impact for generations, creating a world where industries and governments can act faster and smarter for the greater good through Pixxel’s cutting-edge hyperspectral satellites.”

Praveg Patil, Head of Asia Pacific – M&G Impact & Private Equity, said, “Pixxel’s proprietary technology will be transformational and adaptable to monitor for enhancing crop health, climate change, managing resources more effectively and protecting our environment. This partnership underscores our commitment to support Pixxel’s growth plans and reflects our broader purpose-led strategy, demonstrating how innovative technology can generate positive environmental outcomes.”

Linda Guo, Partner, Glade Brook Capital Partners, commented, “We are thrilled to partner with Pixxel as they advance the deployment of their hyperspectral satellite constellation. Awais, Kshitij, and the Pixxel team have demonstrated exceptional vision, innovation, and execution, and we are confident they will play a pivotal role in driving the growth and adoption of the hyperspectral satellite market.”

Pixxel’s hyperspectral satellites are designed to capture data across 250+ spectral bands at an unparalleled 5-meter spatial resolution, spectrally fingerprinting the earth and delivering details invisible to conventional imaging methods.

The upcoming Fireflies constellation of 6 commercial-grade hyperspectral satellites, set for launch in early 2025, will provide enhanced global coverage with native 5-meter resolution, a 40-kilometer wide swath and daily revisit frequency anywhere on the planet. With applications spanning agriculture, climate monitoring, resource management, mining, environmental protection, energy, urban planning, and more, Pixxel’s technology equips organizations with the critical intelligence required to make informed, data-driven decisions.

This milestone represents another step forward in Pixxel’s vision of leveraging space technology to drive global progress, create impactful environmental solutions, and facilitate interplanetary travel, paving the way for a better tomorrow on Earth and beyond. For more information about Pixxel, visit www.pixxel.space.

About M&G Investments and M&G’s Catalyst Strategy

M&G Investments is part of M&G plc, a savings and investment business which was formed in 2017 through the merger of Prudential plc’s UK and Europe savings and insurance operation and M&G, its wholly owned international investment manager. M&G plc is listed as an independent company on the London Stock Exchange in October 2019 and has £343.5 billion of assets under management (as of 31 December 2023). M&G plc has around 4.6 million customers in the UK, Europe, the Americas and Asia, including individual savers and investors, life insurance policyholders and pension scheme members.

For nearly nine decades M&G Investments has been helping its customers to prosper by putting investments to work, which in turn creates jobs, homes and vital infrastructure in the real economy. Its investment solutions span equities, fixed income, multi-asset, cash, private debt, infrastructure and real estate.

M&G recognises the importance of responsible investing and is a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI). M&G plc has committed to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 at the latest, across our investment portfolios and operations. For more information, please visit https://global.mandg.com/.

M&G’s £74 billion Private Markets business has over two decades of experience in investing in private credit, private equity, real estate, infrastructure and structured credit on behalf of Prudential policyholders and external clients.

The Catalyst investment strategy sits within the Private Markets business at M&G. Drawing on this expertise and track record in private assets, Catalyst is a global, flexible strategy investing in companies with innovative solutions to some of the world’s biggest environmental and social challenges.

About Glade Brook Capital Partners

Glade Brook Capital Partners is a leading global growth equity firm investing in emerging leaders in software, internet, and deep technology. Glade Brook has partnered with transformative growth-stage companies, including SpaceX, xAI, Pixxel Space Technologies, Stoke Space Technologies, Stripe, Revolut, Airbnb, Uber, Zomato, and Zepto, among others.

About Pixxel

Pixxel is a space data company and a spacecraft manufacturer redefining Earth observation with hyperspectral imaging. Pixxel’s constellation of the world’s highest-resolution hyperspectral imaging satellites is designed for daily revisit frequency anywhere on Earth. It helps detect, monitor, and predict critical global phenomena across agriculture, oil and gas, mining, environment, and other sectors in up to 50x richer detail. Pixxel has also launched its in-house Earth Observation Studio, Aurora, to make satellite imagery analysis easily accessible.

Pixxel has raised $95 million from M&G Catalyst, Glade Brook Capital Partners, Google, Lightspeed, Radical Ventures, Accenture, and others. For more information, visit www.pixxel.space or follow Pixxel on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Contacts

Pixxel Media Contact:
Neerja Shah
neerja@pixxel.space

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