Kepler Aerospace, a Bengaluru-based space infrastructure and mission operations startup, said on September 1 that it raised US$8 million in a seed round led by Blue Ashva Capital and co-led by Finvolve India Accelerator and others.

The company said the funding, its first external funding since it was founded in 2018, will support its space-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities, including the launch of its first six swarming ISR satellites.

It will also be used to scale Kepler’s Mission Operations as a Service and Avionics as a Service businesses.

Kepler also said it has secured two prime contracts under iDEX, or Innovations for Defence Excellence, to provide swarming ISR constellations to India’s defense space ecosystem.

The contracts are backed by about US$4 million in grants under the program.

The startup added that its mission operations platform serves nearly all Indian space companies and is the primary mission operator for several Indian Space Research Organisation satellites through a network of more than 70 ground stations.

🔗 Source: Kepler Aerospace