Sisir Radar raises $7M to develop private L-band SAR satellite
The company plans to use the funding to develop and launch India’s first privately built L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite, targeted for launch by 2026.
Indian space and defence technology startup Sisir Radar has raised $7 million in a Series A funding round led by 360 ONE Asset, with participation from Shastra VC.
The company plans to use the funding to develop and launch India’s first privately built L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite, targeted for launch by 2026. The satellite is being designed and engineered in India and is intended to provide high-resolution, all-weather imagery for applications including defence, disaster response, environmental monitoring and urban planning.
Sisir Radar works on lower-frequency L- and P-band SAR systems, which are capable of imaging through cloud cover and vegetation—an area the company says is particularly relevant to India’s geographic conditions. The startup has previously won two iDEX challenges to build specialised SAR systems for the Indian Air Force.
Founded by Dr Tapan Misra, former Director at ISRO’s Space Applications Centre and a key figure behind India’s RISAT SAR mission, Sisir Radar focuses on developing indigenous radar payloads and related ground systems.
“While the private sector across the world focuses on X-band SAR, India’s geographical nuances require the ability to not just see through clouds but also through vegetation for any meaningful application, be it military or civilian. This requires lower frequencies like L and P bands, where, conventionally, getting high resolution is challenging, but high resolution is imperative. This is what we have cracked for L and P bands. The level of SAR technology that we are building positions us in the same playing field as space agencies of top spacefaring nations. We are setting new benchmarks for what the private sector can achieve in space globally,” said Dr Tapan Misra, Founder, Sisir Radar and former Director of Space Applications Centre, ISRO.
The funding follows the company’s seed round led by Shastra VC and will be used to advance its satellite programme and expand ongoing research and development efforts.
Edited by Jyoti Narayan