Digantara's space-surveillance bet: SCOT in orbit, $50M Reliance round at ~$200M

Digantara is a space situational awareness (SSA) company: it tracks debris, satellites and other objects from its own space-based sensors and sells data, analytics and risk intelligence to governments and satellite operators.

That tracking space objects from space itself — debris, satellites, missiles — is a business governments will pay for, and a startup could beat ground-radar incumbents.

First grant ₹15 lakh from IISc; $2.5M seed from Kalaari (2021), $10M Series A1 led by Peak XV (2023), $50M Series B led by Reliance at ~$200M valuation (Dec 2025).

Founded in December 2018 by engineering students Anirudh Sharma, Rahul Rawat and Tanveer Ahmed, Digantara began as a research project that won an IISc grant and a patent, then commercialized space hardware for its first revenue. Its pitch was a 'Google Maps for space': with only about 4% of space objects tracked, crowdsourced data could power space situational awareness for governments and operators.

Peak XV's $10M Series A1 (June 2023, its first space-tech investment) funded the Space-Mission Assurance Platform and an eight-satellite low-Earth-orbit plan. SCOT, the Space Camera for Object Tracking, launched on SpaceX's Transporter-12 on Jan 15, 2025 as one of the world's first commercial SSA satellites. Defence contracts — including selection for the US Golden Dome programme — followed, and revenue grew multifold.

In Dec 2025 Digantara raised a $50M Series B led by Reliance Industries at about a $200M valuation (Peak XV and Kalaari doubled down) to launch 15 more satellites through 2026-27, build a Colorado Springs facility for larger platforms, and target $25-30M revenue by end-2026.

Only about 4% of space objects were tracked when Digantara started, leaving an obvious gap incumbents were slow to fill.

Space-based sensors sidestep ground radars' weather, geography and field-of-view limits — a structural edge, not just a lower price.

Crowdsourced data fusion created a defensible platform ('Google Maps for space'), not a one-off telescope.

Early credibility — patent, IISc backing, SCOT in orbit — is what won defence customers and Reliance as an anchor.

When incumbents are locked to one sensor type, move the sensor: space-based cameras out-resolved ground radars, and first-mover credibility turned into defence contracts and a Reliance round.

As of January 2026, Digantara has three satellites in orbit, a $50M Series B led by Reliance at about a $200M valuation, and plans to launch 15 more satellites through 2026-27 from Bengaluru (manufacturing up to 30 small satellites a year) and a new Colorado Springs facility for 100-150 kg platforms. It targets $25-30M revenue by end-2026 on defence contracts and expects to expand into Europe by mid-2026.