SatLeo, a space technology start up founded in 2023 by former ISRO scientists Shravan Bhati, Dr Ranendu Ghosh and Urmil Bakhai, is building satellites designed to capture high resolution thermal data from low Earth orbit. The company aims to address India’s long standing climate and agricultural data gaps by providing real time land surface temperature intelligence.
The core team includes ex ISRO experts in systems, electronics and power engineering, ensuring the satellites are efficient, scalable and cost effective. SatLeo’s payload combines medium wave infrared (MWIR) and long wave infrared (LWIR) sensors to measure the Earth’s “skin temperature,” enabling applications in agriculture, defence, weather forecasting and urban monitoring.
“Our technology is focused on assessing land surface temperature, which acts as a base layer for deriving other critical data such as ambient temperature for accurate weather forecasts,” says Bhati, CEO and Co founder. The satellites will operate in low Earth orbit around 500 kilometres above the surface, scanning the globe on polar trajectories for near real time coverage.
SatLeo’s business model is built for high returns, targeting 100 times revenue over launch costs during each satellite’s five year operational life. In April 2025, the company raised 3.3 million dollars in pre seed funding from Merak Ventures, Java Capital, GVFL and Huddle Ventures to support satellite manufacturing, payload calibration and AI driven analytics.
SatLeo’s data is already attracting interest from government agencies in defence and agriculture, as well as private agri tech and deep tech firms like CropIn, SetuShots and Amnex. By replacing ground based sensors with satellite data, these clients can scale faster and operate more precisely.
SatLeo plans to launch India’s first thermal imaging satellite by 2026, with initial testing scheduled for December 2025. With India’s space economy projected at 44 billion dollars, the start up is positioning itself as a key player in providing orbital intelligence for critical sectors.
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