Space-tech startup PierSight announced that it has raised an undisclosed amount as additional capital in a seed extension round, bringing the total funding to $8 million.
New investors, including CE-Ventures, Sustainable Ocean Alliance (SOA), and individual backers such as Nandan Reddy (co-founder at Swiggy), Natasha Malpani Oswal (investor at Boundless), and Sahil Lavingia (founder at Gumroad), participated in the round.
The company said the investment will aid the development of the world’s first satellite constellation combining Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and Automatic Identification System (AIS) for round-the-clock maritime intelligence.
PierSight, based in Ahmedabad, is developing technologies to detect illegal fishing, marine pollution, and insurance fraud, while also monitoring Exclusive Economic Zones and supporting port operations. Its first commercial SAR+AIS satellite is scheduled for launch in mid-2026, following the successful deployment of its demonstration satellite, Varuna Mission, in December 2024, onboard the ISRO SpaDeX mission.
Founded by ex-ISRO scientist Gaurav Seth and former National Instruments engineer Vinit Bansal, the company aims to provide persistent, all-weather visibility into maritime activity through advanced satellite technology. The startup continues to hire across engineering roles to support its expansion.
“We have the necessary resources in place to reach our upcoming targets,” Seth said. “This round was about welcoming partners who bring frontline experience in ocean sustainability and port operations.”
In a recent interview with AIM, Seth elaborated on the rationale behind focusing on maritime surveillance. “Traditionally, this was done by flying helicopters, aircraft, speedboats, ships, but they weren’t as optimised as a satellite. A satellite can cover 400 square kilometres every second. No other method can cover that,” he elaborated.
Aligning with the UN Sustainable Development Goal 14, focusing on the conservation and sustainable use of oceans, Matt Mulrennan, head of investments at SOA, “PierSight’s ocean-focused satellite constellation will be highly scalable for conservation outcomes by exposing the ‘dark side’ of ocean activities like illegal fishing and offshore pollution dumping.”
Alongside its satellite development, PierSight is also building a maritime analytics platform, MATSYA, and testing a drone-borne SAR system. Both are expected to be commercially available by the end of 2025.
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