Vaanam: Space tech accelerator to empower young space entrepreneurs to take the giant leap

Vaanam Space Tech Accelerator which was launched earlier this year is the first of its kind, sector-specific private space tech accelerator in India, aimed at supporting the growth of the space startup ecosystem in India with a particular focus on Tamil Nadu.

Vaanam is an initiative by Hariharan Vedamurthy and Sameer Bharat Ram, entrepreneurs passionate about building a thriving space startup ecosystem under the mentorship of Padma Bhushan Shri Nambi Narayanan, Former Space Scientist (ISRO), and Tech Entrepreneur and Investor Mr. Sabarisan Vedamurthy. Eminent individuals like Industrialist Mr. Ravi Mariwala and Actor/Director R. Madhavan are on the advisory board.

Vaanam’s mission is to be India’s first shop to accelerate space tech innovations and garner commercial know-how, and expertise to achieve a product-market fit in a short time. Vaanam functions as a springboard for early-stage businesses and startups to provide specialized tools needed for startups to grow and innovate.

Vaanam Co-Founder Hariharan Vedamurthy states, “There’s a wide gamut of use cases in the space-tech sector in general, say ‘from mining satellite data to mining asteroids,’ and there’s an ever-growing demand to bring these use cases to fruition. In India, in recent years, we’ve been seeing many startups sprouting up catering to these demands. Yet, there’s a whitespace in a solid commercialization framework to bring these great demands to market. This is where Vaanam steps in to help bridge the commercialization gaps these startups encounter and bring their innovations to market quicker with product-market fit.”

Padma Bhushan Shri Nambi Narayanan, Vaanam’s mentor, says, “I am happy to be part of this unique, one-of-a-kind initiative by founders Hariharan and Sameer. It is the right initiative at the right time as space technology is taking off in our country, and the sky’s the limit.”

Sabarisan Vedamurthy, Tech entrepreneur and Investor says “We have had great space scientists and engineers from our state. I thought Vaanam is a great initiative to be part of and do my bit to support the brilliant young space tech entrepreneurs from our state to achieve greater heights.”

Sameer Bharat Ram, the co-founder, says, “Vaanam, as part of its outreach, will reach out to schools and colleges and create ‘Space Clubs’ to inculcate space thinking amongst students and young people. Workshops will be conducted as part of the club. We have already finalized the first set of institutions to work with”. Vaanam has already started working with a set of space tech startups in Chennai including Catalyx which has been selected to be part of the finest accelerators in the world like Techstars and Creative Destruction Lab

Rifath Sharook, The young founder of Catalyx says “India has a great potential in space and deep tech. We need accelerators like Vaanam which boosts the enthusiasm, interest, and focus on the sector by providing the right resources and sector-specific guidance which ultimately serves as a reassurance in the industry to deploy capital. With a great team of technical expertise, it also serves as a filter to help investors decide where to deploy money. Unlike other countries we don’t have many such accelerators and Vaanam would be filling that void which I’m really excited about and looking forward to.”

Renowned Actor & Director R Madhavan, who is on the advisory of Vaanam says “Vaanam is a great initiative to help young space tech entrepreneurs with the right set of resources to begin their startup journey and then scale up the right way.”

For more details, please contact: Sameer Bharat Ram- 98409 39339

Vaanam Space Tech Accelerator | Private Space Tech Accelerator in India