Hyderabad has evolved from a two-anchor ecosystem around Skyroot Aerospace and Dhruva Space into India’s most diverse private spacetech cluster.  
  
**Driving the news:** A new wave of founders, many of them former ISRO scientists or alumni of early spacetech startups, is building companies across orbital computing, space debris removal, satellite cybersecurity, communications, testing infrastructure and critical space components.

* Industry estimates suggest Hyderabad’s spacetech ecosystem now hosts around 95 startups, with 12–15 ventures added over the last two years.
* Together, these companies have raised more than $331 million, with Skyroot and Dhruva accounting for nearly half the total.

**Why the growth:** Founders credit Hyderabad’s rise to a mix of aerospace and defence infrastructure, strong manufacturing capabilities, access to testing facilities, academic partnerships and ecosystem enablers such as T-Hub and T-Works.  
  
CVS Kiran, cofounder and CEO of Red Balloon Aerospace, said these companies compete not with each other, but globally. “The ecosystem is coming together to offer a complete package to the world,” he told us.  
  
**Moving to scale:** Earlier founders struggled to raise capital. Chaitanya Dora, cofounder of Dhruva Space, for instance, says the 163rd investor he pitched to was the first to say “yes.”  
  
Today, the conversation has shifted from proving the market exists to debating scalability and global competitiveness. To unlock the next phase of growth, though, demand will need to extend beyond government contracts.

Success of Skyroot and Dhruva spawns spacetech startup wave in Hyderabad