June 1, 2026 — that's the date by which SpaceTech start-up Stardour Aerospace wants to put an Indian on Mars. Ambitious? Not for someone who, at the age of 19, launched FinTech start-up Savart. The stock market and the vast expanse of space have always had Sankarsh Chanda's utmost attention and while he has been focusing on Savart since its inception in May 2017, it was four months ago that he decided to etch his name across space as well with the incorporation of this SpaceTech start-up.
What are the #goals of Stardour Aerospace? They have already patented a Reusable Multipurpose Aerospace Vehicle. Not only is every part of this reusable, but the way it will be launched is also more like an aeroplane. "It won't take off vertically, like a rocket. It can be launched from any runway and once it's in the stratosphere, it will take the vertical route," explains the 22-year-old. Currently, they are working on simulations and modeling of the aircraft and scouting for places, preferably on the East Coast of India, to set up a testing and manufacturing facility. As a partnership with ISRO will put them on the fastrack, they are exploring this too.
Are you surprised by the ability of the 22-year-old? You wouldn't be if you knew the milestones he has already achieved with Savart. They started with the distribution of mutual funds and are now into advisory, research and so on. Sankarsh is now stepping up his game in this realm as well. Vantage, their AI/ML project, offers three services. Quant, which deals with anything to do with numbers and number-crunching in the company, is a standard offering. What sets them apart is Iris, which Sankarsh calls a replica of human intuition. "Quant covers the quantitative aspects of the company and for the rest, there is Iris. It keeps in mind corporate governance, ethics and everything else that you can't put a number on," explains the youngster.
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Then there's Synapse, a behavioural model with a proprietary EFG (Emotional, Financial and General) analysis that uses in-house psychometric tools to judge customers' risk appetite and financial profile. This trio works together to customise portfolios plus maintain, track and recommend where and how they should be investing. And boy, are they powerful. Sample this, Vantage can crunch 750 million data points in one run, can make investment decisions in a few seconds and is able enough to manage a billion client portfolios. "But what really sets it apart is that it is not just a number-crunching algorithm. It looks at intuition too," says the youngster jovially. While Vantage is already being used internally, its B2B services will be launched by May 2021. "There is scope for errors, hence, Vantage continues to work under the supervision of the team. It's about feedback loops and continuous improvement systems via which it can learn to make fewer mistakes. (The project names Quant, Iris and Synapse are subject to change).
Coming back to their SpaceTech, while the orbiter is called Pursuit, the carrier has been named Vagabond (for now). Both are customisable and have the ability to carry varying payloads. The take-off and landing can be done from either land or water. Being mindful of the environment, the team has made sure that euel is not necessary for the return to Earth. Additionally, using the same reusable vehicle Rendezvous, different aerospace missions can per performed.
Stardour Aerospace was something that Sankarsh would have liked to pursue ten years down the line because he has his hands full with Savart. But Dhanush Pabbathi, his co-founder, egged him on and for the right reasons, there is no time like now to explore space.
Short timeline of stock investments
- 1400s: Belgium became the centre of international trade where merchants would buy goods
- 1611: In Amsterdam, modern stock trading was created, Dutch East India Company is the first publicly-traded company
- 1700s: Buttonwood Tree Agreement started and eventually became New York Stock Exchange
- 1875: When the Indian stock exchange BSE started, it was the first one in Asia
For more on them check out linkedin.com/in/sankarshc
