Pixxel
Indian-American commercial hyperspectral Earth observation operator. Founded 2019 in Bengaluru by Awais Ahmed and Kshitij Khandelwal; dual HQ in Bengaluru and California. Approximately 95 million USD raised through 2025. NASA Commercial SmallSat Data Acquisition (CSDA) Program vendor. Product line spans four generations: retired technology demonstrators (TD-1 Anand, TD-2 Shakuntala, 2022), the operational Firefly constellation of six VNIR hyperspectral satellites (FFLY-1 to FFLY-6, launched 2025), and the in-development Honeybee VSWIR programme (HB0 planned 2026, baseline Honeybee post-HB0). Customer base includes Rio Tinto and a growing roster of mining, agriculture, and defence buyers.
Pixxel is an Indian-American commercial Earth observation company founded in 2019 and headquartered in Bengaluru, India, with US operations based in El Segundo, California. The company designs, manufactures, and operates the Firefly hyperspectral smallsat constellation, and provides data analytics through its Aurora platform.
The Firefly constellation completed its first operational phase in August 2025, with six satellites in a 565 km sun-synchronous orbit. The initial three satellites (Firefly 1, 2, 3) launched on SpaceX Transporter-12 in January 2025 and achieved first-light confirmation in March 2025. Three more (Firefly 4, 5, 6) launched on SpaceX Falcon 9 (NAOS mission) on 26-27 August 2025. Each Firefly satellite carries a VNIR hyperspectral imager covering 470-900 nm across 135 bands at a 5.4 m ground sampling distance over a 40 km swath. Band width is 2-11 nm and imagery is captured at 10-bit dynamic range. The six-satellite constellation delivers a revisit interval of at least four days per point.
Pixxel designed its own hyperspectral payload and built the Firefly satellites at its Megapixxel manufacturing facility in Bengaluru, opened in January 2024. Atmospheric correction uses piSOFIT, Pixxel's adaptation of NASA JPL's open-source ISOFIT optimal-estimation model, which segments imagery into superpixels and applies a neural-network MODTRAN emulator for surface reflectance retrieval.
The company's Aurora analytics platform provides a no-code interface for accessing Pixxel imagery alongside open-source EO datasets, with ready-to-use spectral indices and models targeting agriculture, mining, energy, and environmental monitoring applications. Data is also available via distribution partners including SkyFi and UP42.
Pixxel has secured two contracts with the US National Reconnaissance Office (NRO): a five-year contract awarded in March 2023 under the Strategic Commercial Enhancements Broad Agency Announcement for hyperspectral remote sensing demonstration, and a further contract under the Strategic Commercial Enhancements Commercial Solutions Opening awarded in May 2026 to integrate Firefly hyperspectral data into the NRO's remote sensing architecture. The Indian Air Force is also listed as a government customer. NASA lists Pixxel as a Commercial Smallsat Data Acquisition (CSDA) program vendor.
The company has raised $95 million across all rounds to date (as of December 2024). The Series B totalling $60 million was led by Google (Google for India Digitalisation Fund) in June 2023, with a $24 million extension in December 2024 bringing in M&G Catalyst and Glade Brook Capital Partners.
The next constellation phase, Honeybee, is planned from 2026 and will extend coverage into the shortwave infrared (SWIR) spectrum. Honeybee Zero (HB0), a technology demonstrator already registered in the EO-Atlas missions table, is targeted for Q2-Q3 2026 launch and will cover 400-2550 nm at 8 m GSD. Honeybee Phase 1 satellites (four planned) are targeted for Q3-Q4 2027 with 260 bands across both VNIR and SWIR at 5 m GSD.[^pixxel-support-docs][^pixxel-firefly-product][^pixxel-about]