SUMMARY
- Five IIT Madras friends from the Avishkar Hyperloop team launched Mission Drishti in May 2026, an OptoSAR satellite that pairs optical and radar imaging.
- A US patent, announced 8 September 2026, protects how GalaxEye syncs its optical and radar sensors. It’s a first for Indian startups, the company says.
- Founder lesson: the Hyperloop project ended, but the team stayed together. Shared hardware experience became a company backed with over $20 million, per Business Standard.
Most college projects end with a grade and a folder nobody opens again. This one ended with a satellite in orbit.
Five engineers who met on a student Hyperloop team at IIT Madras now run GalaxEye, a Bengaluru space startup. On 8 September, the company said it had secured a US patent for the core technology behind its OptoSAR imaging system. GalaxEye says it’s the first Indian startup to get a US patent for satellite imaging technology. That claim comes from the company, and YourStory noted it hasn’t been independently verified.
The patent is the latest chapter in a story that runs through a SpaceX contest, a 190 kg satellite and a Falcon 9 launch in May. Here’s how the five founders got there.
A Hyperloop team that didn’t stay a Hyperloop team
Suyash Singh was leading Avishkar Hyperloop, a 40-member IIT Madras team, when the future co-founders came together. In 2019, Forbes India reports, the team became the only Asian squad to reach the finals of SpaceX’s Hyperloop Pod competition.
Singh became GalaxEye’s CEO. Denil Chawda is CTO, Kishan Thakkar leads engineering, Pranit Mehta runs sales operations and Rakshit Bhatt leads product, according to Business Standard. All five are IIT Madras alumni.
The Hyperloop work didn’t become the company, but it pointed the way. Forbes India reports the group first explored launching satellites with electrical propulsion. Chawda told the magazine the idea would need a 40-kilometre launch tube at a steep angle, which wasn’t feasible.
So they changed the problem. The idea for GalaxEye, per Forbes India, grew out of a consulting project in the US where Singh had to assess wildfire damage using satellite data. The company was formally incorporated in May 2021, after a year in stealth mode.
The rocket idea died. The team didn’t.
Why one satellite with two sensors is the whole point
Picture a normal camera in space. It produces images anyone can read, but clouds and darkness block it. Synthetic Aperture Radar, or SAR, sees through both, but its images are harder to interpret.
Most systems treat the two as separate jobs and stitch the data together later. OfficeChai points out that this workaround can introduce gaps, mismatches and delay. GalaxEye’s OptoSAR design puts both sensors on one platform and syncs them, so they capture the same place at the same time.
The company is aiming the data at defence surveillance, maritime monitoring, agriculture and disaster response. It’s also playing against giants. Business Standard names Iceye, valued at about $2.8 billion, and Maxar among its rivals.
Five years of hardware, and the money that kept it moving
Building a satellite is slow, and the funding trail shows it.
In December 2022, GalaxEye raised a $3.5 million seed round led by Speciale Invest, with angels including Zerodha’s Nithin Kamath and EaseMyTrip’s Prashant Pitti, as SiliconIndia reported. In November 2024 it closed a $10 million Series A led by MountTech Growth Fund – Kavachh, with Mela Ventures, Speciale Invest, ideaForge, Samarthya Investment Advisors and Infosys also in the round, per Indian Startup News.
Milestones stacked up around those rounds. GalaxEye won the government’s iDEX-DIO challenge for satellite edge computing in 2024, ThePrint reports. In December 2024, its GLX-SQ payload flew on ISRO’s POEM-4 platform to test the sensor-fusion system in orbit, according to eoPortal.
By late May 2026, Business Standard put total investment at over $20 million and the team at about 140 people. Funding trackers don’t agree on totals, so treat that figure as a reported number, not an audited one.
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Launch day: 3 May 2026
On 3 May 2026, a SpaceX Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California with Mission Drishti on board. “Drishti” means vision or sight, and the name fits.
According to GalaxEye’s mission page, the satellite weighs about 190 kg and sits at roughly 500 km altitude. It revisits a location every four days and images at 1.2 to 3.6 metre resolution. Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the team, calling the launch proof of young Indians’ passion for innovation, News On Air reported.
The SpaceX link that began with a student contest has stuck around. Singh told Business Standard that booking a launch is now “almost like booking a bus ticket through an app.”
As of Business Standard’s report in late May, Drishti was completing its commissioning phase, with first imagery for customers expected soon.
What the US patent protects, and what it doesn’t
GalaxEye says the patent covers the architecture used to synchronise optical and microwave sensors so they capture spatially and temporally matched data. The same core technology is already patented in India.
Here’s the part most headlines skip. ThePrint explains that a US patent lets the owner stop others from making, using, selling or importing the invention in the US for 20 years. It doesn’t hand GalaxEye ownership of sensor fusion as an idea. Protection is tied to the particular way the company built its OptoSAR system.
Still, it matters. GalaxEye says it has a growing pipeline of domestic and international customers and plans a 30-satellite constellation over the next five years, per IBTimes India. Earlier coverage had cited 10 satellites by 2030, so the ambition has grown. In August, it also acquired Bengaluru-based spacecraft firm StarOps.
The IP work started early. In 2022, Chawda told IANS the team was already filing patents, as an IIT Madras news archive records. By October 2025, Forbes India counted six patents filed.
What other founders can take from this
Indian deeptech keeps producing teams that formed before the company did. Pixxel’s founders were classmates at BITS Pilani. Skyroot’s story starts with an ISRO engineer.
Read More: Pawan Kumar Chandana: Vizag to Rocket Factory
GalaxEye adds a useful twist. Its founders proved they could build hardware together before they had a company, an investor or a product. Hardware then ate years, and the patents took years too.
Our take: a patent is protection, not revenue. The real test now is whether Drishti’s data turns into paying contracts, and whether GalaxEye can fund a constellation against far bigger rivals. Business Standard says the company plans to raise more capital alongside early revenue and government-backed support.
India’s space-tech wave is also getting wider, from imaging to direct-to-phone connectivity.
Read More: Vi-AST SpaceMobile Partnership: Can Satellite Connectivity Beat Jio & Airtel?
If you’re building something yourself, here’s what this story leaves you with:
- Team first: GalaxEye’s founders proved they could build hardware together on a student team before incorporating a company.
- Protect the core early: the team said it was filing patents in 2022, and this US grant was announced in 2026.
- Pick a problem rivals can’t dodge: clouds and darkness limit optical satellites, and GalaxEye built its whole company around that gap.
Which student project do you think could become the next GalaxEye? Tell us in the comments, share this with an engineering friend, and read more founder stories on StartupIndiaX.
FAQs
Who founded GalaxEye?
GalaxEye was founded in 2021 by five IIT Madras alumni: Suyash Singh (CEO), Denil Chawda (CTO), Kishan Thakkar (VP Engineering), Pranit Mehta (VP Sales Operations) and Rakshit Bhatt (VP Product). They first worked together on Team Avishkar Hyperloop.
What is OptoSAR?
OptoSAR combines optical imaging and synthetic aperture radar on one satellite. Optical shows clear, easy-to-read images but struggles with cloud and darkness, while radar sees through both but is harder to interpret. Fusing them aims to give consistent all-weather imagery.
What does GalaxEye’s US patent cover?
GalaxEye says the patent covers the architecture used to synchronise optical and microwave sensors so they capture spatially and temporally matched data. The same core technology is already patented in India. It protects GalaxEye’s specific method, not all sensor fusion.
When did Mission Drishti launch?
Mission Drishti launched on 3 May 2026 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The roughly 190 kg satellite is described by GalaxEye as India’s largest privately built Earth observation satellite.
How much has GalaxEye raised?
GalaxEye raised a $3.5 million seed round in December 2022 and a $10 million Series A in November 2024. Business Standard reported in May 2026 that total investment had crossed $20 million, though trackers report different totals.
What is GalaxEye planning next?
GalaxEye said in September it plans a 30-satellite constellation over the next five years. Earlier coverage cited 10 satellites by 2030, so the stated target has grown. The company also acquired Bengaluru-based StarOps in August to strengthen spacecraft engineering.