Bellatrix reaches the launch-pad stage
If at a tender age of 19, you are fired with the imagination to do something innovative in aerospace tech domain and you get a pat on your back from someone like Dr Abul Kalam (the late president of the country, also known as ‘Missile Man of India’), that could come as a huge psychological boost and assurance that your career may eventually zoom up at a skyrocketing pace in the future. This feeling could further strengthen if you find an industry doyen like Sajjan Jindal doling out a preliminary grant to help you get going. Rohan M. Ganapathy, that young boy, who managed to get the blessings from Kalam and grant from Jindal about 12 years ago, seems to have made the best use of early opportunities (some would call it Godsend). His Bengaluru-headquartered, aerospace tech start-up Bellatrix, has covered quite a distance in the last 10 years and now seems to have reached the launch-pad stage with a definitive product line, investor support and concrete moves to reach out to world’s most vibrant markets.
It’s no secret that, in a segment like aerospace, fortunes are not made overnight. It’s a time-consuming and high capex process but, then, opportunities for the private sector, including start-ups, have improved in the last couple of decades. New segments have emerged in the business, demanding more innovation and resulting in the creation of hundreds of tech-oriented start-ups in all leading countries. India too figures there and the last decade has seen a sizeable number of start-ups in the space arriving on the scene. Ganapathy’s Ballatrix is counted among the first start-up movers in the space. “It’s quite common in aerospace industry, especially for a greenfield venture, to take some time in product development,” says Ganapathy. “We have reached that point, where we have a well-defined portfolio and, now, we’re ready to go into an overdrive mode on the marketing side,” says he. And talk to anybody in the aerospace business today and Bellatrix is considered a promising name for the future.
The beginning of Bellatrix was quite interesting. Ganapathy, a second-year engineering student in Coimbatore, was selected to participate in a prestigious NASA event in 2012, which was adequately covered in the media. President Kalam had noticed it somewhere and sent an invite to Ganapathy to meet and discuss his core idea of a spacecraft propelled by a plasma engine. Following the meeting, Kalam had asked him to prove what he was saying and forwarded him a recommendation letter for support to start his venture. And this led to the germination of Bellatrix in 2015. Ganapathy was joined by Yashas Karanam, a friend, and together they brought the ship to the gate of prominence.
“As far as aerospace industry for start-ups was concerned, it was quite early when we entered this space,” says Yashas Karanam, co-founder, Bellatrix. “We were the second or third player in the entire country. But, since then, it has been growing fast, with the country’s aerospace start-up ecosystem today having over 300 players, who have received over $350 million so far,” adds Karanam.
The changing environment
Bellatrix and others like it have arrived thanks to the changing aerospace business environment, where more opportunities have emerged for the new entrants from the private sector. Space science business has traditionally been considered a public sector activity everywhere, with organisations like NASA, European Space Agency and even ISRO in India spearheading the developments in the past. The US, technologically the most advanced country in the domain, had allowed some private firms in defence manufacturing to support with components way back in the 1960s but that had created a selective club of private players, supporting public sector agencies, which are still monoliths in their own right. But, as Yashas explains, dynamics began changing after 2010, with the focus shifting from geo-stationary, ‘low earth orbit’ (LEO) satellites. They have begun driving the show for telecommunications, earth observation (particularly for disaster response), remote sensing (agriculture, oil & gas, defence), navigation, etc. Their demand is soaring in the market and it has also become a turf for promising start-ups, which can pitch in with new-age innovations and prove their utility.
Bellatrix, among the first start-up movers in India in the space, seems to have displayed right innovation capabilities to carve a distinctive growth journey for itself. “We are the only one in the country which has developed an expertise in electrical propulsion,” Ganapathy explains. “In fact, now, we are vertically integrated in propulsion system and, because of this capability, we are in a position to deliver propulsion to customers in 4-6 months, as against the usual 14-18 months”. Belltrax’s product portfolio is centred around thrusters – Arka (hall effect thrusters), Rudra (high-performance green propulsion systems that promises to offer results superior to conventional Hydrazine systems and are also less toxic), Pushpak (orbital transport vehicle), Fingernail (propulsion system for nano-satellites) and Jal (water-powered, micro-wave plasma thrusters). The company has been a supplier to ISRO-DRDO and a couple of other big private customers in the US and Europe. Meanwhile, Bellatrix Aerospace has raised $11.3 million to date, with notable investors being Inflexor, Pavestone, StartupXseed, GrowX, BASF and actor Deepika Padukone. It is also backed by a prestigious advisory board, which has distinguished names like Nagendra Rao, a leading scientist and a former director of an ISRO unit.
Eyeing for the big leap
As a start-up, Bellatrix has taken nearly a decade to create a comprehensive product portfolio, Ganapathy explains. And, now, it is shifting towards aggressive marketing, with the demand mounting. There are positive indications in that direction, with the company beginning to make its presence felt in leading global markets and add new capabilities to its core offerings. In April this year, it announced its arrival in the US, after having established a new subsidiary. This has been done with the intent to serve the rapidly growing US commercial space market. The company has appointed a seasoned professional as its vice-president to oversee its US operations. Chris Macdonald, who has been brought in, was the founder of a satellite telecommunication company.
Just a month prior to that, Bellatrix had signed an MoU with Astroscale Japan, a leading player in satellite servicing and long-term orbital sustainability across all orbits. The collaboration aims to drive active debris removal, satellite servicing and sustainable in orbit mobility, contributing to cleaner and safer space environment, says a company note. The collaboration will address opportunities within India’s growing space market and expand to developing international markets.
“It is not that we are looking for opportunities in overseas markets only,” Ganapathy elaborates. “A critical bill on space policy is waiting for clearance in the Parliament which, I think, will create more opportunities for us. Investors’ confidence will also grow significantly in Indian start-ups involved in space technology solutions after that”. The Space Activities Bill, which he is referring to, is expected to open the doors for aggressive participation of private players by creating a better regime for licensing and collaboration. It aims to catapult India’s space economy to over $40 billion business by 2033. “Going ahead, we see a lot of consolidation in the market, where only the best of start-ups will survive,” Yashas adds. “We are in a sweet spot because of our capabilities and offerings and we expect our growth journey to pick up more momentum”. The co-founders statistically point at the expanding pie of the business. The $450 billion current global aerospace business is projected to skyrocket to $1 trillion by 2030. And India which is considered to have a vibrant ecosystem for aerospace is looking at its global market share reaching to at least low double digit trajectory from the current single digit mark.
Meanwhile, a major addition to its set of solutions and offerings is expected next year, when the company showcases its air-breathing engines, Ganapathy explains. It is believed to be the next big thing in very low earth orbit satellite manufacturing, where they use atmospheric oxygen for combustion. It reduces launch vehicle weight and cost by a modest margin. (The traditional rockets carry both fuel and oxidiser.) “We are going to demonstrate our capabilities in this technology early next year,” Ganapathy informs. And the company is also getting ready to raise a fresh round of funding – the biggest, till date. “We have started working on a pre-series B funding. The ticket size would be in the range of $20-$25 million. We expect this to conclude before the year end,” he adds. A recommendation by the President to a college student in Coimbatore is probably all set to result in bigger outcomes.