COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Tribune News Service) — An India-based space surveillance and intelligence company, which specializes in creating sophisticated systems to track space activity and debris, will expand to Colorado Springs and hire 61 people who will become among the latest additions to the thriving aerospace and defense industries in the state and the Pikes Peak region.

Digantara, a 7-year-old startup that employs more than 100 people in India and has an office in Singapore, plans to establish a satellite assembly, integration and testing facility in the Springs.

That plant will produce so-called nanosatellites and their payloads, which will be deployed into a low Earth orbit for tracking what the company says are more than 1 million objects in space — though the website for NASA’s Orbital Debris Program Office pegs the number of particles larger than 1 millimeter at more than 100 million.

Colorado Springs eyes $4M rebate incentive to attract renewable energy company

The economic development agreement with “Project Phoenix” would provide more than $4 million in rebates if the company met its proposal to provide 378 jobs in Colorado Springs.

The combination of satellites and payloads, which will include infrared cameras and light detection and ranging sensors, along with ground stations that employ equipment such as telescopes, are being used to create the equivalent of a Google map that will track “every single object” in orbit, Anirudh Sharma, Digantara’s co-founder and CEO, said after a news conference Monday where the company’s expansion to Colorado Springs was announced.

The event, held in the offices of the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce & EDC, was attended by about 50 local and state elected officials, business people and civic leaders, including Gov. Jared Polis and Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade.

“We are a space tech company working towards building an infrastructure layer for all the satellite operations,” Sharma said. “What we essentially do is track everything that happens in the orbit, similar to an air traffic management system. Today, you have aircraft flying. The reason it’s flying without having a collision in orbit is because you have a sophisticated infrastructure, which is air traffic management. A similar infrastructure is absent in space. And that’s what we are building, by tracking every single space activity that happens in the orbit.

“What we do is maps, but for space,” he added. “Anything that (involves) navigation in the orbit, that’s our zone.”

Digantara will be the first space company from India to expand to the U.S. and will be part of a collaboration between the two countries to support strategic space defense efforts, Sharma said.

The company considered California, North Carolina and Texas for its expansion, but chose Colorado Springs, in part, to be near a pool of potential employees and to locate near existing customers in what it called a “leading aerospace market.”

Much of the company’s work is for defense and space markets in the U.S., Sharma said; the company also has started to work with Colorado Springs-based Space Command and the separate Space Force, he said.

Colorado Springs has more than 150 companies in the private sector aerospace and defense industries, according to the Chamber & EDC.

Colorado, meanwhile, has 55,000 employees in the aerospace industry, Polis said.

“We are one mile closer to space here, with elevation, and we’re very excited by the work that you will be doing in our state,” Polis told Digantara officials during the news conference.

The company also received a series of financial incentives as part of its expansion to Colorado Springs.

International company eyeing Colorado Springs for U.S. base

An international aerospace company seeking to collaborate with national defense agencies on surveillance and defense initiatives is considering Colorado Springs for a U.S. base.

The Colorado Economic Development Commission last year approved up to $759,034 in performance-based Job Growth Incentive Tax Credits for the company over eight years. Those credits are contingent upon Digantara following through on job creation and salary requirements that were spelled out as part of the incentives approved by the commission.

The Colorado Springs City Council, meanwhile, approved $198,225 over four years in performance-based incentives, which include sales-and-use tax rebates applying to the purchases of construction materials, equipment, machinery, furniture and fixtures. The city’s Economic Development Department also offered to support the company through its Rapid Response Program, as well as talent and workforce development support.

El Paso County also approved $812,030 in incentives.

“As a proud military and defense hub, and the home of U.S. Space Command, our city flourishes when it attracts and supports companies that push the boundaries of what’s possible,” Mobolade said at the news conference.

“Digantara joins a thriving network of cutting-edge companies in our city working at the forefront of space surveillance and intelligence, particularly in the critical area of space domain awareness, reinforcing our city’s leadership in U.S. space safety, innovation and industry growth,” he said.

The idea of knowing what’s in space has become a crucial safety concern, said Camille Lavon, the Chamber & EDC’s director of business development for semiconductors and advanced manufacturing.

“They’re (Digantara) tackling the challenges of space operations and situational awareness, focusing on the growing issue of dangerous debris that can damage space craft,” she said.

Digantara says it will invest $35 million in Colorado Springs as part of its expansion, which would include its assembly facility, equipment and its workforce.

Sharma said the company currently has two people working in an office at the Catalyst Campus for Technology & Innovation, a business park on downtown’s east edge.

State OKs millions in incentives to semiconductor maker for Colorado Springs plant upgrades

A semiconductor manufacturer seeking to expand and modernize its Colorado Springs plant would be eligible for a $3.68 million cash award from the state under a financial incentive for the company approved Thursday by the Colorado Economic Development Commission.

Digantara plans to move into a 15,000- to 20,000-square foot assembly facility, which it will either build or purchase at a still-to-be-determined location in town, Sharma said. The company hopes to have the facility up and running in 10 to 12 months, he said.

Its 61 employees — who will include software engineers, systems engineers, business developers and employees in human resources and finance, among other jobs — would be hired over three to five years, with 10 to 15 hired to start with, Sharma said. Annual wages will average $82,645, which is 130% of the average annual wage in El Paso County, state and Chamber of Commerce officials said.

“It’s a foreign direct investment from the country of India to the United States,” said Johnna Reeder Kleymeyer, the Chamber & EDC’s president and CEO. “This is their first entrée into the space technology market in the United States, and they chose Colorado Springs out of a competitive process with Texas, North Carolina and California. So, we’re competing as a state and a region and it’s exciting to add one more aerospace and defense company to our cluster.”

© 2025 The Gazette.

Visit www.gazette.com.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.