India's Biggest Space Startup: Awais Ahmed, Pixxel

India's Biggest Space Startup: Awais Ahmed, Pixxel - Backstage with Millionaires

Рет қаралды 147,196

Күн бұрын

Listen to this podcast as audio: open.spotify.com/episode/2DWc...
In this episode of the Backstage With Millionaires podcast, we sit down with Awis Ahmed, founder of Pixxel, to discuss his entrepreneurial journey.
00:00:00 Intro
00:02:41 Building the pod
00:06:25 Working at SpaceX
00:07:31 Why Awais chose asteroid mining
00:14:11 Why no one got into hyperspectral commercial space
00:22:23 Raising funds to build a satellite
00:32:58 Building the first satellite
00:43:54 Raising funds during the pandemic
00:49:41 How Pixxel generates revenue
00:50:21 Launching the satellite
1:09:58 Outro
Pixxel is a space data company building a constellation of the world’s highest-resolution hyperspectral earth imaging satellites and the analytical tools to mine insights from the data.
The images gathered by Pixxel's satellites will provide global coverage every 24 hours and help detect, monitor, and predict global phenomena across agriculture, mining, environment, and energy use cases.
About Awais Ahmed:
Awais Ahmed started his professional journey at HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited), as a research intern.
Around the same time in 2016, he was also the founder member and engineering lead at Hyperloop India.
He started Pixxel in 2019.
Connect with us:
Twitter: / bwmillionaires
LinkedIn: / backstagewithmillionaires
Instagram: / backstagewithmillionaires
Podcast: open.spotify.com/show/5rGPalo...
#startup #entrepreneur #space

Пікірлер: 216

@rajeshmanivannan1234 Жыл бұрын

Have never seen an interview from start to end. Such an inspiring story. Hats off to Awais for his vision and Caleb for the wonderful interview

@AmanKumar-pb6om Ай бұрын

i am Kind of addicted to his Videos i can't just skip

@abduljaleel3548 Жыл бұрын

He belongs to Chikmagalur Karnataka India. That's my home town . Am proud of him ❤

@youstron Жыл бұрын

Very very impressive... Thanks to backstageM for bringing such inspiring people. Bring this person every 6 months and we want to listen updates. It will also be a good documentation for pixxel

@backstagewithmillionaires Жыл бұрын

Haha I'd love to have Awais back again someday. Maybe in a year or so, let's see - if he agrees to return. -Caleb

@krutikachauhan3299 Жыл бұрын

The point where he said that we didn,t have internet connection at our house , it really reminded me of my 2 neighbours who used to study really hard and turned out to be scientists at ISRO. They didn,t have any facilities and made it to the IIST without any coaching and they were toppers in their streams.

@hariharan8167 Жыл бұрын

Just finished my final year exams at BITS. Seeing guys like this doing insane stuff right out of BITS is extremely motivating, Hats off to the Pixxel team!

@tejassuresh8221 Жыл бұрын

RVCE kids built digantara a situational space awareness startup while they were in college stop making it a bits thing I mean almost everyone in your college has tons of social capital intergenerational privilege the least diverse set of students socially and you guys have 0 attendence right peak privileges that other students dont get life is not just about building startups but developing a well rounded personality kids from rural backgrounds are winning us medals at CWG and olympics

@plusultra7258 11 ай бұрын

@@tejassuresh8221 fyi, there's no source like that RVCE kids built it Please stop spreading misinformation without proper sources or facts backing up your claim. I've seen that if people build something from Private institutes, they immidiealty shifts the name to someone else. But if it was from IIT, I can bet that you wouldn't actually say that.

@henryviii8808 10 ай бұрын

@@tejassuresh8221lol! RVCE guys coping

@BeingSaurabh Жыл бұрын

One of the best founder's Journey i have listened to. It was beautifully articulated by Awais. Often we say " Zero to One" but this was "Before Zero to One" startup journey story. Thanks Backstage with Millionaires for this

@skipavm Жыл бұрын

Awais is a wonderful human being, great sense of humor, fair and considerate... Pixxel has developed an amazing culture of open collaboration and rooted in being a health monitor for the planet... I've enjoyed my time immensely with Pixxel - EVERYONE here counts and is treated with respect. Please inquire!

@2945antonio 11 ай бұрын

What a pleasure it was to listen to Awais Ahmed give a run down of his startup to the point where it is now. I wish the entire Team of PIXXEL the very best.

@shardulnikam9322 Жыл бұрын

1:03:12 US Gov is a client 🔥🔥🔥 This podcast is one of the best I have ever watched 😍😍😍 thanks Caleb!

@arpan9937 Жыл бұрын

It's wierd Indian Govt. only trusts ISRO, they promote space startups, but they entrust mission only to ISRO.

@siddharthmagadum16 Жыл бұрын

Thanks Ahmed for sharing your startup journey with us👍 . Thanks BWM team for this podcast 🔥

@shaheermannan7540 Жыл бұрын

Ahmed podcast seems pro, and the clarity and way he explains the tech to business.Speechless!!!! Good luck Awis!

@mdnayeem9052 Жыл бұрын

When someone at isro who had experience about 40 years say it can't be happened...and a guy just 21 years made it ...its just awesome

@Duke_Randomzzz Жыл бұрын

thats the beauty called innovation

@lord_of_love_and_thunder Жыл бұрын

A truly multidisciplinary endeavor. Designing sensors and instruments, planning trajectories, communicating and processing high throughput data. There are few companies like this around the world. Kudos to these skilled and intrepid entrepreneurs!

@aadarshktofficial Жыл бұрын

Truly aspiring. Watched the full podcast, really informative. Amazing to watch such startups grow.

@Shivam-H Жыл бұрын

Thanks to the BWM Team the podcasts help me a lot in seeing the world more broadly. Keep it up guys

@backstagewithmillionaires Жыл бұрын

Thanks a lot Shivam 🙂 -Caleb

@Sandeep-zd6dq Жыл бұрын

Great work Awais and congrats to your whole team, I hope soon you will be able to provide high quality hyper-spectral image of India to normal customers as well so that they can also build things on top of that.

@tomasbaron8465 Жыл бұрын

Wow, great and inspiring podcast. I recently encountered your channel, watching from Colombia and this got me really interested and started to investigate the startup world and opportunities in India. Thank You and a pleasure watching your content. ❤

@backstagewithmillionaires Жыл бұрын

Wow, so cool to know that you're watching these videos from Colombia! I've never been, but spent many years of my life in Argentina and Peru. Thanks for stopping by, and looking forward to seeing you down here in the comments going forward! -Caleb

@bababistril Жыл бұрын

Last part where he said we need hardware to go with software, can't only focus on software alone 💯💯

@suyashpriyadarshi4297 Жыл бұрын

Woaahhh!!! That was a music to my ear🎉🎉. Most amazing episode ❤

@splendidtowers Жыл бұрын

Once you start, momentum takes you Along. Wise words.

@iamtusharsinha Жыл бұрын

Simple & True content, loved the insights between funding rounds.

@rahulbohra6196 Жыл бұрын

Hi BWM this is my first video of your channel and i must say I loved it a lot then any other video on KZfaq i watched till date.

@vamship4246 Жыл бұрын

Inspiring, more power to people like ahmed!!🎉🎉🎉🎉

@rdongre Жыл бұрын

Simply amazing; great communicator, equally good executor and a visionary!!

@ML_Indian001 Жыл бұрын

this is not the India biggest space startup. please don't write this kind of word. it is doing brilliant work. and Skyroot aerospace is known as most famous top startup in space. yeah, on space image based, you can tell this is top company, but not in entire space.

@Mhmhind Жыл бұрын

It’s great to hear from him happy to know he is from Karnataka.

@Amoghavarsha. Жыл бұрын

ಹ್ಮ್

@karthik_kwads Жыл бұрын

Wow! Impressive interview as always from BWM! There is always someone who says it's impossible and then there's always someone breaking that barrier.

@backstagewithmillionaires Жыл бұрын

Absolutely - we need more such people! -Caleb

@karthik_kwads Жыл бұрын

@@backstagewithmillionaires True!

@swarajification Жыл бұрын

Soo freakin inspiring!! Damn. Its mind blowing to know the amount of variables that you can and cannot be mindful of while building a startup from scratch and that too from one random idea.

@mriduls6698 11 ай бұрын

a hidden gem on the internet about a hidden gem in Indian startup ecosystem

@drpstar Жыл бұрын

Wow! That was amazing, Thank you team BSM for this.

@backstagewithmillionaires Жыл бұрын

Absolutely drp star, thanks for watching! -Caleb

@SinghSidhuKuldeep Жыл бұрын

These guys reached out to me some time back with a job and my god have they changed If the team spoke with the confidence they have now, would have definetely considered them. Super proud of what they have accomplished. - Fellow BITSIAN (it truly is magic) PS: I had some personal responsibilities as well that anchored me, would have definetely tried them out

@backstagewithmillionaires Жыл бұрын

Yep, BITS seems to be one of those colleges that excels at creating entrepreneurial thinkers. It's still early days for Pixxel, I'm sure they're hiring in case your responsibilities have diminished! -Caleb

@bkmarksuser Жыл бұрын

That was an awesome interview Caleb. Very inspiring journey by Awais, Indias Elon Musk to be👍.

@backstagewithmillionaires Жыл бұрын

Thanks so much bkmarksuser! Glad you enjoyed it. -Caleb

@baadindyan Жыл бұрын

Awais bhai anytime someone in industry begins to throw their weight around regarding how many years of experience they have or their experience is greater than your age, that is a sign you are onto something and that individual is just being insecure about why they never thought of that. Great going and I wish you best of luck in future journey!!

@contrarian322 Жыл бұрын

We’ll be cheering for you awais . 🎉

@ramiyabareen683 Жыл бұрын

Congratulations... U r an inspiration..May Almighty bless u with abundance in all the good deeds..

@sukumarpatra123456 Жыл бұрын

incredibly impressive indeed, It demonstrates that Indians are also not left behind. Keep it up; we enjoy witnessing success.

@rinzingwangdi Жыл бұрын

Most impressive, fantastic, amazing and inspiring. Wow, thanks

@AbdulazizKhan-gk1xc Жыл бұрын

❤ congratulations wishing you guys all the success 🎉.

@rahulkapur687 Жыл бұрын

More power to you bhai! 🙏 🇮🇳

@jamesraj8762 Жыл бұрын

Remarkable journey. All the best.

@kiranm2192 Жыл бұрын

It’s quite impressive effort and ups and downs struggle all the best guy. Trusting ur self and making other people trust u whole different ball game ..

@dreadpirateroberts94 Жыл бұрын

-There are 3 types of spectral data RGB HyperSpectral and MultiSpectral -Hyperspectral imagery is used to analyze compostion of rocks, asteroids etc... - Material - Abeyyss? -While building a sattelite - one builds a engineering model then qualification model then flight model....

@dreadpirateroberts94 Жыл бұрын

Just got to know that they secured the 36 mil Dollar in Series B Nice🎉

@ritvikdiv Жыл бұрын

Congratulations and best wishes Awais and team for continuing successes.

@user-qd5uu8ql8s Жыл бұрын

I have same opinion and agree with Awais that we need to take the manufactring to space and other plantes rather than spolining earth env. till it reaches a point of no return. Human must starting thinking more scientific and have good ethics to stop frictions which hampers the growth and progress. Great thinking

@VaniPandyaReacts 11 ай бұрын

GREAT WORK AWAIS KEEP UP... KEEP GIVING THE PRIDE MOMENTS TO INDIA!!!

@kiranm2192 Жыл бұрын

21 years old guy’s getting 20 km images from space impressive. How many mega pixel Is camera?

@AshishAwaghad Жыл бұрын

Very inspiring interview and a great success story. It is amazing how Elon has inspired a new generation of entrepreneurs!

@sudhirbs4 Жыл бұрын

i watched full podcast , i am from chikmaglur , we are proud of u

@ShravanBandaru Жыл бұрын

Inspiring....Congratulations 👏

@vikate2748 Жыл бұрын

Very smart guy.. Thanks for the lovely interview

@anuchugh31 Жыл бұрын

Incredible podcast. Hopefully government can integrate young minds and do innovative stuff to be in league of big boys on the table. Current big boys being China and US

@nandadeshpande5642 Жыл бұрын

I am so proud of this son of India

@SudiptaBorahiitr Жыл бұрын

What an accomplishment! I guess this is the India Abdul Kalam was envisioning in India 2020.

@yashstreamin2826 Жыл бұрын

Thanks for this podcast

@rajat0610 Жыл бұрын

super interesting!

@NeilDsza 10 ай бұрын

Inspirational 👏

@ankk98 Жыл бұрын

Its inspiring to see how they have been able to crack deeptech.

@DeepakYadav-wc6pd Жыл бұрын

Amazing person, amazing very creative startup. He is a real smartass. Congrats man for your satellite. you will definitwly do asteroid mining someday.

@krishnabiradar1745 Жыл бұрын

Thank you for this video link

@shivamagarwal5498 Жыл бұрын

I've been following Awais for some time now and he's definitely very hard to reach out to! Thanks Caleb for inviting Awais!

@tejassuresh8221 11 ай бұрын

He's quite approachable on Twitter

@kiranm2192 Жыл бұрын

Great perseverance

@lekhamanohar9728 Жыл бұрын

Amazing vision!

@DhruvMalikk Жыл бұрын

Loved the podcast 👏

@g.vaibhavsaisai8785 Жыл бұрын

Please do more videos on Hard-Tech start-ups.

@123sudeepshiram Жыл бұрын

Very rare find that we gave up on them but something positive to look about and emulate 😮😮😮😮 guys follow him not cult

@Dubey7 Жыл бұрын

We need more space startups to run in space race

@TheLYagAmi 3 ай бұрын

Awais I sincerely wish you the best for the future. your extremely well thought out and structured plan is sure to beat fruit and I will be one of the first in line to celebrate asteroid mining with you. All the best brother. 🎉🎉🙏

@marcusravi1684 Жыл бұрын

Awesome. I love Bangalore

@mjordan233 Жыл бұрын

If this guy doesn't get distracted by the things other young adults get distracted from he will make it big... Really big

@hnsubbarao Жыл бұрын

A very inspiring Journey, Ahmed has many ingredients to be highly successful.

@hnsubbarao Жыл бұрын

The struggle that Ahmed went through to collect 7 cr and thereon 700 mil US $ is a sharp contrast to the HNI wealth pool that we have in India. Startup's are the future of India if we have to have economic miracle. A time has come when the government, the rich to chip in and hand hold startups in a way which no other country has done. This mindset has to dawn.

@Md_sadiq_Md Жыл бұрын

Pushing the algorithm ❤

@Yagyaansh Жыл бұрын

Amazing!

@ajithpinninti8845 Жыл бұрын

Truly amazing, Don't say it's india Space X, coz this startup maybe inspiration,, but it has it's own glory.

@PremKashyap Жыл бұрын

So much clarity at such young age. I'm blown. Hope he achieve his dreams and makes everyone proud.

@arunsparks Жыл бұрын

Govt should help these talents. Make policies favourable to them.

@bababistril Жыл бұрын

Amazing

@ayya11790 Жыл бұрын

Excellent interview. Enjoyed it very much. Thank you 🙏🏼

@myhandle__ Жыл бұрын

His success story is so smooth

@avtarwasson4875 Жыл бұрын

Awesome

@2iii2 Жыл бұрын

Struggles and perseverance, backed by confidence in their knowledge resulted in Pixxels' success. The journey ahead will be more exciting considering what can be done with the hyperspectral imaging data when combined with Gen AI.

@knowwhere4185 Жыл бұрын

my boy is on a different level....

@backstagewithmillionaires Жыл бұрын

Right?! -Caleb

@being_unfiltered01 Жыл бұрын

I've never seen too long podcast but this made me stuck.

@zakrakhan6201 Жыл бұрын

I believe, you should read the book "The Futurepreneur" , which covers pixxel's story as well as many other indian deep tech startups story. - i am currently reading it.

@orion7326 Жыл бұрын

India will have many more such success stories if somehow we can tell young middle class entrepreneurs that they can get access to a huge pool of funds from the Startup India Initiative. That fund is severely underutilized and the government is itching to give away the money.

@zakrakhan6201 Жыл бұрын

Yes, you are right and other educational institutions should learn from bits of pilani, how they can make students risk taking, and access to such resources.

@shubhamjipatidar1633 Жыл бұрын

Plz bring founders of agnikul and dhawan also

@vickykrish95 Жыл бұрын

please invite Agnikul cosmos they are a great space tech startup.

@swaraj6053 Жыл бұрын

Great Interview. Please interview more of these technical entrepreneurs instead of some ecommerce businessmen.

@bhuvaneshs.k638 Жыл бұрын

Wow let's go

@TKT2024 Жыл бұрын

Now I know why people root for bits even more than IITs........

@prabhatgorai_me_1391 Жыл бұрын

What is the current valuation of pixxel?

@backstagewithmillionaires Жыл бұрын

I don't think that is a public figure at the moment. -Caleb

@manish6853 Жыл бұрын

keep going

@Dhirajkumar-ls1ws Жыл бұрын

Nice

@vasupatel635 Жыл бұрын

Really an inspiring and motivating pod...

@backstagewithmillionaires Жыл бұрын

Thanks Vasupatel! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂 -Caleb

@offensive-brat Жыл бұрын

proud

@ArpitPandey. Жыл бұрын

Hey bro good luck also for yt channel

@GeneralistDev Жыл бұрын

Spotify link is broken

@backstagewithmillionaires Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the heads up whoami, it's fixed now. -Caleb

@handyman7147 11 ай бұрын

What a journey. Truly inspiring. This is the future of India. Thanks you for the video. Look forward to more similar success stories.

@dhruv_pai_angle Жыл бұрын

BITSian in the house💪🏻

@yono4633 Жыл бұрын

@@SwaritShuklait is because of colonial mindset of respect/authority on institution and lack of focus on individualism You don't see Stanford people bragging about Stanford in comment section of elon musk KZfaq video. America cherishes individual liberty/freedom so you won't see people associating themselves with institution rather they focus on themselves.

@ritshpatidar Жыл бұрын

Putting down others is what they achieve may be? Or may be they want to associate with someone who has more power? It is human tendency

@dhruv_pai_angle Жыл бұрын

@@SwaritShukla I’m proud that he’s my college senior and it inspires me to work hard and do more.

@john10000ish Жыл бұрын

@@dhruv_pai_angle By same logic, I am proud of Elon Musk's achievement, because he's human, I'm also human, so extremely proud of wealth musk has amassed.

@dhruv_pai_angle Жыл бұрын

@@john10000ish good

@youcantclickonmyprofile Жыл бұрын

Cool

@surabhipranitha-vv7rl Жыл бұрын

Indian spaceX is Skyroot aerospace

@shivinunitholi2493 Жыл бұрын

This is the kind of mentality we need to change. We need to stop calling our places and inventions like "Indian Silicon Valley", "Indian SpaceX". We do not need another Silicon valley or SpaceX here if those things are as original and done by our folks.