Goa, June 28 -- Awais Ahmed's journey to building one of India's leading space startups began without the advantages many students enjoy today. Raised in Aldur village in Karnataka, he spent much of his childhood without internet access or a smartphone. Instead, his father nurtured his interest in science by bringing home encyclopaedias that sparked his fascination with space.

That passion eventually led him to BITS Pilani, where he studied Mathematics and participated in Team Anant, the institute's satellite initiative in collaboration with ISRO. He also led Hyperloop India during the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition, gaining valuable engineering experience.

The turning point came during the IBM Watson AI Challenge in 2018. Alongside f...