Team Startupcity

·  Inbound Aerospace raises $1M in pre-seed round led by Speciale Invest.

·  Developing autonomous, reusable re-entry vehicles for microgravity missions.

·  Aims to launch first re-entry MVP mission by Q1 2028.

Inbound Aerospace, an IIT Madras incubated spacetech startup, has raised more than $1 million in pre-seed funding from Speciale Invest, as well as additional support from Piper Serica.

Established in 2025 by Aravind I B, Vishal Reddy, and former Indian Navy Captain Abhijit Bhutey, the startup is developing autonomous, re-reusable re-entry vehicles for in-orbit experimentation, microgravity production, and commercial space research.

With this fresh capital injection, Inbound Aerospace will ramp up the R&D of its re-entry spacecraft, test critical subsystems, and achieve critical design review milestones. The company views its technology as critical to plugging the evolving gap in microgravity infrastructure, particularly with the International Space Station scheduled to be decommissioned by 2030.

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Microgravity conditions are almost impossible to simulate on Earth. Our spacecraft is intended to make the return of in-orbit experimental and manufacturing payloads affordable, repeatable, and safe a crucial enabler for the next generation of the space economy," said Aravind I B, Co-founder and CEO.

Vishesh Rajaram, Managing Partner at Speciale Invest, added,

Re-entry vehicles will be the foundation of the new microgravity economy. Inbound Aerospace is addressing the difficult synergy of autonomy, materials science, and systems engineering. Their plan to make space not only accessible, but also returnable, is essential to a sustainable space ecosystem.

Originally pre-incubated at IITM Nirmaan and currently a constituent of the IIT Madras Incubation Cell, Inbound Aerospace was also the sole Indian finalist in Japan's highly prestigious S-Booster 2025 competition, which is hosted by the Cabinet Office of Japan. The start-up is planning the launch of its first minimum viable re-entry mission by Q1 2028.