In a major boost to the Indian space industry, Alphabet, the parent company of Google, announced Rs36 millions of investment in Bengalurubased space startup, Pixxel. Notably, this is the first major investment in the Indian space sector after the privatisation policy of the Indian government in April.

Google is making its first investment in the Indian space sector in a Bengalorebased startup called Pixxel. The Alphabetowned company is leading a Rs36 million Series B funding round in Bengaluruheadquartered space tech startup Pixxel. This comes after the government announced a new privatisation policy back in April.

The startup has raised more Rs71 million from investors including Accenture PLC. Pixxel did not specify the valuation it reflected. Google said it had made the investment in Pixxel through its India Digitalisation Fund, which focuses on investment in India-based startups.

Indian startups managed to raise just Rs1.06 billion in May, according to data provided by market intelligence firm Tracxn, with the flow from funding taps thinning down to a trickle.Funding activity saw a 69% decline yearonyear from the Rs3.42 billion raised by startups in May 2022.

Indian environment technology startups raised a total of Rs2.1 billion in funding in the financial year 2023, according to data from Tracxn, a market intelligence platform. This comes at a time when the startup world is going through a funding slowdown, which largely kicked in during the second half of 2022.