Satellite Manufacturing
Dhruva Space
Dhruva Space (Hyderabad) is an end-to-end space engineering solutions provider, serving commercial, government, and academic clients. It specializes in small satellites (from nanosatellites to microsatellites) and related infrastructure. Dhruva has developed its own satellite platforms (e.g. “P-30” nano-sat bus and “P-90” micro-sat bus) and also manufactures satellite deployers and ground station solutions. Notably, Dhruva built and flew two amateur radio satellites (“Thybolt-1 & -2”) deployed by ISRO in Nov 2022. The company offers launch integration services and operates a mission control facility, positioning itself as a one-stop shop for “Satellite-as-a-Service.”
2012
Year founded
₹123 Crore Series A, April 2024
Latest Funding Round
~$16 million
Total Funding
~200
Employees
Satellite Platforms (Satellite Buses): Dhruva offers standardized small-sat platforms – for example, it has developed a CubeSat bus used in its Thybolt satellites and is developing a heavier microsat bus. Satellite Orbit Deployers: It built space-grade deployer systems for releasing client satellites (successfully tested on PSLV in 2022).
Ground Stations & GSaaS: Dhruva provides turnkey ground station solutions and recently got authorization for “Ground Station-as-a-Service” to support satellite operations.
Mission Management: Services include satellite design, assembly, integration, testing, launch brokering, and operations support – a full-stack offering.
Meet the Team
Founders
Sanjay Nekkanti (Co-founder & CEO) – an electronics engineer who earlier worked on a student satellite; Kranthi Chaturvedi and Abhay Egoor (Co-founders, with Abhay now CTO) – all alumni of Bits Pilani/IIIT. The founding team also includes Krishna Teja (COO) and Chaitanya Dora (CFO). They were among the first Indian private players to sign an MoU with IN-SPACe/ISRO in 2020.
Other Team Members
Lt. Gen. Anil Bhalla (Retd.) – advisor for strategic partnerships. Chris Hadfield (former Canadian astronaut) – on advisory board, providing guidance on human spaceflight and international markets. Dhruva’s board also includes investors from IAN Fund and Blue Ashva Capital after the latest round.
