Bengaluru-based aerospace startup Akashalabdhi has successfully completed a pre-seed funding round of $1.2 million, led by prominent investors including Uday Chatterjee, Romesh Sobti, Suraj Nalin, LVX, 1Crowd, and Riceberg Ventures. This funding is set to accelerate the development of ANTARIKSHAB, India’s first expandable orbital habitat designed for a range of applications from microgravity experiments to defence logistics, marking a significant milestone for India’s growing private space ecosystem.

Vision for Dual-Use Space Technology

Siddharth Jena is the founder of Akashalabdhi which aims to position India to lead both in space exploration and defence capability. The startup aims at developing dual-use that would cater to both national security and space exploration requirements. ANTARIKSHAB is envisioned as a versatile platform capable of supporting orbital logistics, microgravity experiments, space habitation, and defence applications.

“Our vision is clear. We want to put India at the forefront of orbital infrastructure and space habitation by innovating dual-use technologies,” said Jena. “The successful close of our pre-seed funding round is a significant milestone that brings us closer to this goal. With the support of our investors, we are one step closer to making ANTARIKSHAB a global reality.”

Strategic Partnerships and Development Plans

During its growth, Akashalabdhi receives important partnership and incubation support. Akashalabdhi is incubated at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and IT Roorkee, while also benefiting from its partnership with the KickSky Accelerator. Out of the partnerships, Akashalabdhi has access to cutting-edge research, mentorship, and infrastructures effectively allowing to develop its visionary ideas into scalable solutions, respectively. The money raised will go towards the current projects such as the development of inflatable solar arrays, analogue studies on earth simulating microgravity environments, and, to launch the startup’s minimum viable product (MVP) into orbit. All of these projects are essential for validating the technologies and ensuring ANTARIKSHAB works in the real-world environment.

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ANTARIKSHAB: A Leap Towards Sustainable Space Habitation

ANTARIKSHAB is a foldable, expandable habitat that can house between six and sixteen people. The expandable shell protects against orbital debris and radiation, so it is ideal for longduration missions and for future lunar or Martian missions. The habitat is also versatile for orbital logistics, satellite maintenance, and other microgravity experiments, providing a multi-purpose infrastructure for both scientific and commercial applications.

By integrating defence-grade systems, the habitat can serve national security purposes on Earth, offering dual-use capabilities that are rare among private space initiatives globally.

Upcoming Launch Plans and Collaborations

Akashalabdhi is currently negotiating with SpaceX for the launch of ANTARIKSHAB’s prototype, with a projected trial launch date of early 2026, and plan to finish the prototype integration by late 2025. In addition, the startup is actively working to find domestic launch provider partnerships with Indian start-ups Agnikul Cosmos and Skyroot Aerospace, as a means to improve CNES’ launch capabilities while decreasing reliance on foreign providers.

These collaborations credit India’s growing importance in the global private space ecosystem and show Akashalabdhi’s strategy to merge partnerships both internationally and domestically.

Challenges and Market Outlook

While there is positive progress, ANTARIKSHAB is experiencing technical and operational challenges. It continues to represent a design for an expandable habitat that can survive the extreme conditions of space, reliable life support systems, and long term sustainability of human survival. Essential to the success of this project will be innovations in the materials it is made of and issues that will relate to its pressure integrity and thermal control capabilities.

Globally, expandable habitats are attracting attention, with players like Sierra Space developing similar modules for commercial orbital stations. Akashalabdhi’s dual-use model, combining space habitation with defence applications, provides a unique differentiator in both domestic and international markets.

India’s Space-Tech Ambitions Strengthened

The advancement of Akashalabdhi coincides with the rise of India’s private space industry, as a result of policy reforms, funding for innovation, and accelerator programs. If successful, the ANTARIKSHAB mission could elevate India to a small number of countries developing orbital habitats that contribute to research, commercial and defence capabilities in space.

Thanks to the support of investors, collaboration with researchers, and its own achievable vision for the future, Akashalabdhi is ready to help drive the future of human habitation in outer space. Akashalabdhi is a personification of both a startup’s aspirations and India’s aspirations as a nation in the global community in space.

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