Infosys Ltd. announced on Thursday that it would acquire up to a 20% stake in GalaxEye, a space-tech startup that builds multi-sensor satellites. The stake will be acquired for Rs 17 crore and the transaction is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, the IT major said in a release.
The investment will be pumped into the startup through the Infosys Innovation Fund, which is partnering with artificial intelligence and deep-tech startups to co-create next-generation solutions for the company's clients.
The fund will invest in equity and series A compulsory convertible preference shares of GalaxEye. Post the transaction, Infosys will acquire a minority holding in GalaxEye, with the stake "not exceeding 20% of the outstanding share capital of the company," the release added.
GalaxEye was incubated at IIT Madras and is based in Bengaluru. The startup, which was set up for Earth observation, builds multi-sensor satellites and synchronisation platforms that generate all-weather, high-resolution and intuitive datasets.
These datasets potentially benefit various industries, such as defence, insurance, logistics, utilities, infrastructure, agriculture, disaster management and mining, Infosys said.
On Aug. 1, GalaxEye announced the closing of its fundraising round. The firm mopped $6.5 million, with Mela Ventures and Speciale Invest emerging as lead investors. The funding round also witnessed participation from ideaForge, Rainmatter, Navam Capital, Faad Capital, and Anicut Capital.
Earlier in 2022, the company had raised $3.5 million from several investors, including EaseMyTrip Chief Executive Officer Prashant Pitti and Zerodha founder Nithin Kamath.
Shares of Infosys settled 0.11% higher at Rs 1,894.2 apiece on the NSE, as compared to a 0.15% advance in the benchmark Nifty 50.