Inbound raises $1 million to develop autonomous re-entry spacecraft

Indian space-tech startup Inbound Aerospace has raised over USD 1 million in a pre-seed funding round led by early-stage investor Speciale Invest. Piper Serica also participated in the round.

The Chennai-based startup is developing autonomous, reusable re-entry vehicles to support in-orbit experiments, microgravity manufacturing and commercial space research.

The funding will be used to accelerate development of its first re-entry spacecraft, validate core sub-systems, and achieve critical design review milestones, according to a report by BW Disrupt.

“Microgravity environments are extremely hard to recreate on Earth,” said Aravind I B, Co-founder and CEO, Inbound Aerospace. “Our spacecraft is designed to enable cost-effective, repeatable, and safe return of payloads conducting in-orbit experiments and manufacturing — a capability that’s critical to unlocking the next wave of growth in the space economy.”

“We believe re-entry vehicles will become foundational infrastructure for the microgravity economy,” said Vishesh Rajaram, Managing Partner at Speciale Invest. “Inbound’s deep-tech ambition spanning autonomy, material science, and systems engineering is bold and timely. We’re backing this team because they are not just thinking of access to space, but access back from space.”