The Union Budget 2024-25 will set up a ₹1,000 crore venture capital fund for investments into the space economy which will improve the availability of early-stage funding and boost the participation of start-ups in the sector, investors and founders said.

The move would encourage more participation from private firms and help the emergence of larger players in the space start-up ecosystem.

The Indian space economy has the potential to reach $44 billion in the next 10 years from the current $8.4 billion according to IN-SPACe, expanding India’s share of the global space economy by 4x from current 2 per cent to 8 per cent.

“We strongly believe that an ₹1,000 crore fund for space start-ups and space economy will catalyse India’s dominance in the global space market! We believe the trust and focus from the GoI combined with the FDI policy announced earlier this year will lead to more investment participation in the sector from India and internationally,” said Vishesh Rajaram, Managing Partner, Speciale Invest.

Specialè Invest, is an early investor and its portfolio includes investments in launch vehicles Agnikul Comos, satellite manufacturing & earth observation Galaxeye Space and Kawa Space, communication firm Astrogate Labs, and in-orbit economy startup InspeCity.

“Space progress is also a part of country’s economic progress. The correlation between space and economy goes long back and this attestation (formation of fund) from the government for private players is a big boon as it would remove all doubts about the sector itself for all stakeholders of the sector. With policy already in play, India’s aspirations from private players in space industry is getting broader and bigger,” said Moin SPM, Co-Founder and COO, Agnikul Cosmos.

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