India’s private space sector has largely focused on rockets, satellites, and launching payloads into orbit. But Vijayawada-based Red Balloon Aerospace is looking at the region below satellites, developing platforms that can operate at high altitudes for extended periods.
Founded in 2025 by former Skyroot Aerospace Vice Presidents CVS Kiran and Sireesh Pallikonda, the startup is developing what it calls a near-space infrastructure layer using stratospheric airships, aerostats, and super-pressure balloons.
The company is targeting the region between conventional aviation and orbital space.
“Between where aircraft end and satellites begin lies an entire domain that's largely unused, close enough to be affordable, and high enough to be persistent. Roughly 20 km to 50 km above Earth,” says Kiran, CEO of Red Balloon Aerospace.
Kiran, who previously worked at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, says he identified a gap in India’s infrastructure while working on orbital systems. Payload developers need to test technologies at high altitudes before sending them into space, but existing facilities are limited and often oversubscribed.
Red Balloon aims to address this gap by building a commercial infrastructure business.
Building high-altitude platforms
The startup’s main platform is HELIX, an autonomous stratospheric airship designed for long-duration operations. It is developing two other platforms alongside it: VISTA, a super-pressure balloon, and ALTIS, a tethered aerostat.
In May, the company launched VISTA from Vijayawada's Indira Gandhi Stadium. The balloon reached nearly 25 km, with the mission demonstrating India's indigenous stratospheric super-pressure balloon capabilities alongside those of the US, France, Japan and China.
According to Kiran, VISTA will also serve as a testbed for technologies that will eventually be used in HELIX, while ALTIS is being developed to test other systems.
“We own our envelope film and reinforcing structure design, end-to-end in-house, which let us go from starting operations in November to first flight in under a year,” Kiran says.
Red Balloon is developing a modular technology stack covering materials, avionics, navigation, communications, payload interfaces, and mission software. These components can be used across its different platforms.
Potential applications include communications, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) connectivity, disaster response, remote connectivity, and domain awareness.
For commercial customers, Red Balloon offers a rideshare model that allows multiple payloads to be carried on a single mission.
“Commercially, partners come to us today for various applications through our rideshare model, where a single mission carries multiple payloads at once,” Kiran says.
Establishing near-space as an aerospace category
Beyond developing the technology, Red Balloon wants near-space to be recognised as a distinct category within India’s aerospace ecosystem.
Kiran says potential government applications include sovereign connectivity, Earth observation, and disaster response. The company also expects international B2B customers to fly payloads on its platforms.
Its team has more than seven decades of combined experience in lighter-than-air technology and stratospheric platforms.
Red Balloon has raised an undisclosed pre-seed round and is currently raising a seed round.
Globally, it competes with companies such as World View and Sceye. Kiran believes the company’s advantage lies in developing and controlling more of its technology in-house.
“We own our full value chain, from envelope film and reinforcing load bearing members to the systems that process what our platforms capture,” he says.
For now, Red Balloon's priority is to build flight heritage across VISTA, ALTIS and HELIX, with the longer-term goal of establishing near-space as another layer of India’s aerospace infrastructure.
Red Balloon Aerospace is part of YourStory's Tech30 cohort—a showcase of India's most promising startups of 2026, unveiled at TechSparks Bengaluru.
Edited by Teja Lele