Isro’s talent base propels budding spacetech startups

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Avishkar Hyperloop, building on technology that utilises magnetic levitation in low-pressure tubes to transport goods and people, currently continues to run independently and is funded by the Indian Railways. When Singh and his team moved out to start up again with GalaxEye Space, a satellite-based imaging services venture, the task got slightly easier. First, Singh continued to borrow talent from diverse backgrounds including automobiles and aerospace just as he did at his previous venture.

Soon, he did what the majority of his peers in the spacetech category do today. “We started adding a bunch of advisors and consultants from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and also defence labs of our country. Eventually, we started hiring folks from the ISRO as well.

We have hired four of them,” Singh told ET. The IIT-Madras incubated company employs 42 people. It also works with eight other consultants who were previously at the government agency that operates under the Department of Space.

Spacetech startups such as GalaxEye are increasingly relying on the ISRO for hiring grey-haired talent, both on full-time and consultant roles, given the experience and contextual understanding that the deeptech category requires. A spokesperson of the space agency confirmed the development. GalaxEye and others such as Pixxel, Dhruva Space, Bellatrix Aerospace, Agnikul Cosmos and Skyroot Aerospace have created win-win situations for both sides: the startups get domain experts who, in turn, receive attractive compensation packages from new-age firms backed by the likes of Google.