A partnership between Microsoft and the Indian space agency is planned to give Indian space tech startups free access to cloud tools, the two companies announced Thursday. It is the latest in the U.S. tech giant’s efforts to deepen its ties with young South Asian companies.
Microsoft will also help space tech startups become enterprise ready through a memorandum of understanding it has signed with the Indian Space Research Organization.
Microsoft for Startups’ Founders Hub platform will provide free access to several tools and resources to startups handpicked by ISRO. There are also tools for building and scaling on Azure, including GitHub Enterprise, Visual Studio Enterprise, Microsoft 365, Power BI, and Dynamics 365.
Using cutting-edge methods such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning, ISRO’s collaboration with Microsoft will greatly benefit space tech startups in analyzing and processing vast amounts of satellite data for a variety of applications, said S Somanath, ISRO Chairman.
To support the national space technology ecosystem, Microsoft for Startups’ Founders Hub is an important platform for bringing startups and technology providers together. In turn, we will benefit the Indian economy as a whole by assisting and supporting entrepreneurs.”
There is a boom in Indian space tech startups.
In June 2020, the Indian government passed the space sector reforms and established the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-SPACe) to allow private companies to use ISRO’s infrastructure. To work closely with private companies and startups, the government set up NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) as its commercial arm.
The Vikram-S rocket was successfully launched by ISRO in November last year, boosting the private sector after much anticipation. Skyroot Aerospace, a four-year-old startup, developed the Vikram-S, a spin-stabilized solid-propellant rocket with a mass of about 550 kilograms. It carries three payloads from customers outside India, one of which is from a foreign country.
According to an official response shared in the upper house of the country’s parliament in December, 111 space startups are registered on the In-SPACe platform.
Launch vehicle startups such as Skyroot Aerospace and Rocketship.vc-invested Agnikul are backed by GIC, while satellite startups such as Pixxel and ANIC-ARISE and Kalaari Capital-invested Digantara are backed by Blume Ventures and Lightspeed Partners.
According to data shared with TechCrunch by the Indian Space Association (ISpA), Indian space startups raised over $245.35 million in 2022 alone.
During Satya Nadella’s visit to India, Microsoft announced earlier this week that HDFC Bank and Yes Bank will use Azure and other Microsoft cloud services.
