SpectraGaze Systems raises Rs 3.7 Cr from GVFL to build Indian infrared detectors for space and defence

Ahmedabad-based SpectraGaze Systems has raised Rs 3.7 crore in a seed round led by GVFL, with angel investors also taking part. The company makes optical imaging sensors and electro-optical payloads for space, defence and scientific users, and this is its first external funding. Until now it has been financed by the customer programmes it delivers.

The startup was founded in 2023 by Arup Banerjee, a former ISRO scientist with 23 years of experience, and was incorporated in Ahmedabad on May 19, 2023. Its stated goal is to build imaging technology at home and cut India's reliance on imported detectors, a category of hardware that is hard to buy freely from abroad.

SpectraGaze names ISRO, the Physical Research Laboratory and Kaynes Technology India among its customers. It says it has delivered an infrared detector and a test system to ISRO, and holds an image sensor development contract, together with AMETEK, for ISRO's next generation HRSAT earth observation programme. On the defence side it won the iDEX PRIME Challenge to develop an indigenous Infrared Detector Dewar Cooler Assembly, including the detector itself.

The next near term delivery is a hyperspectral imaging camera for a 3U satellite, due to Kaynes Technology in November 2026. GVFL managing director Mihir Joshi said the company had built a strong technology base through customer funded work, and Banerjee said the money will speed up product development and widen the set of applications and customers it serves.

The funds are earmarked for product development, existing customer programmes, a larger engineering team, better testing infrastructure and business development. The roadmap covers earth observation, space based intelligence and surveillance, greenhouse gas emission mapping and drone mounted hyperspectral imaging.