TAMPA, Fla. — India-based Bellatrix Aerospace announced March 27 it has raised $20 million to ramp up production of its satellite propulsion systems after securing its first large commercial customer outside the country.
Indian venture capital firm Cactus Partners led the pre-Series B funding round, which Bellatrix said will help it shift to large-scale manufacturing of its electric and chemical propulsion systems.
Bellatrix spokesperson Julie Johnson said deliveries began this month for the undisclosed customer.
Founded in 2015, Bellatrix has already supported several missions for India’s space agency with its electric Hall-effect thruster and a propulsion system that uses a less-toxic alternative to hydrazine.
Last year, Bellatrix announced plans for a U.S. manufacturing facility to support domestic supply chain needs for customers in the country.
At the time, the company said it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to serve as a preferred propulsion partner for a prominent U.S. satellite manufacturer.
“The U.S. facility is still a work in progress but we currently are able to start U.S. production through various partnerships in place so there’s no hold up,” Johnson said via email.
Bellatrix has a “small handful” of corporate and operational employees in the U.S., she added, with the bulk of its approximately 130 employees based in India as the company seeks to expand its technical headcount.
The latest round brings Bellatrix’s total capital raised to about $31 million, according to the company.
“We’ve moved from flight-proven to factory-ready,” Yashas Karanam, Bellatrix’s cofounder and chief operating officer, said in the March 27 news release.
“By slashing lead times to under six months and optimizing our unit economics, we are delivering the industry’s best cost-to-reliability ratio. This investment ensures we can fulfill our multi-million-dollar backlog with the speed and margin required for global scale.”
Johnson said Bellatrix plans to share more details soon about its capabilities as it nears customer deployments and additional commercial milestones in the coming months.
The funding round included new investors Hero Investment Office, 35 North Ventures, Indusbridge Ventures and Monarch Holdings, alongside existing backers Inflexor, Pavestone, GrowX, Startup Xseed and Survam Partners — all based in India.