76. Spacechips

Founder: Dr. Rajan Bedi
Founded: September 2014
Website: www.spacechips.co.uk

Spacechips was founded by Dr. Rajan Bedi to solve major problems currently being faced by the global satellite industry.

Having worked for 12 years at Airbus UK where he led the development of the Space Electronics for the Alphasat, SES-12/14, NEC, NovSAR and Sentinel-1 satellites, Bedi came to notice a number of key market niches within the space sector and decided to launch a business creating products and services to address these niches.

Three years since launch and Bedi’s high-tech space electronic company has started building innovative products to disrupt the market.

One of the first of these products is a transponder which allows satellite manufactures to offer operators re-usable and bespoke performance. The transponder claims to reduce the weight of future satellites by 50%, their power dissipation by 50%, their size by 60% and cost by 40%.

Patent-pending, the company’s invention has the potential to help suppliers or electronic components to the space industry better understand future trends and generate better return-on-investment; potential that saw the business take home High-Reliability Product of the Year at the Elektra 2016 Awards.

A finalist at the Startups Awards 2016, Spacechips also has other arms of the business which includes offering space-electronics design consultancy services to manufacturers of satellites and spacecraft around the world.

And there’s more. The business also provides global training courses in space electronics to help customers make better informed technology decisions with guidance on product roadmap, business strategy, technical marketing and space-market trend advice to suppliers of space-grade microchips.

So what are Bedi hopes for the business? He tells us that his goal is to make a real difference to the space sector, particularly as the UK government has a target to achieve a 10% market share of the space industry by 2030.