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One thing I have noticed as a journo is, it doesn't take much to hoodwink the Indian media. Most edit rooms don't have specialists. In these times of layoffs and understaffed newsrooms, it looks like it's easier to pull the wool over media's eyes. A thread:
The last two days news outlets have been carrying a report about a Pune-based startup about to launch a constellation of 35 satellites to help in 5G transmission in India. ToI, Businessline, The Asian Age, Business Standard, ET, among others, have all reported it.
Now, 5G is mired in uncertainty in India, and private satellites in India are again a grey area. But a startup getting into this in such a situation sounded interesting to start off. So, just piqued by my curiosity, I searched for more details. And what emerged is a bit baffling.
The company's name is Vestaspace Technology Pvt Ltd. As any cub reporter would do these days, I began by searching for it on twitter. It was indeed listed: @vestaspace. One look at the follower count, 23 as of now, planted a small seed of doubt in my mind.
The company has been on twitter only from early this year and has had six tweets so far. A sample of one of the tweets: https://twitter.com/vestaspace/status/1240532397961158656?s=20
The twitter bio had the company website link ( http://vestaspacetech.com ). The site looks rudimentary. I checked the 'products' section & cross verified them to be just straight copy-paste from Wikipedia-like sources. Its 'About Us' page was disturbingly vague & riddled with typos:
Nothing specific. ("The first project which started of was agriculture-based"). The company says it's located in Pune, Bengaluru, California, but the addresses are not specific. Only tech park buildings have been named. The California address is just: Pasadena, California, 91001.
All these looked shady to me, so I searched for the company's founder and managing director, quoted in all news reports as Arun Kumar Sureban. His LinkedIn page was my next pit stop. For a company touted to be professionally run, his profile pic on it seemed a tad odd.
His name was spelt Arun 'kumar' Sureban. The lower case added to my unease. He apparently had passed out of Bhoomraddi College of Eng in 2015. His LinkedIn page said he did his MS Astronautical Engg at University of Southern California between '15-17.
The 'Head of Operations' of Vestaspace was listed as one Roshan, who reportedly did his engineering in BVB College of Eng between '12 and '17 (5 yrs. Why 5 yrs?) But his page doesn't even mention what engineering he did.
Arun Kumar's LinkedIn page also links to a post from one Noah Nelson, who is identified as CEO - Next Capital Tech and a Board Member at Vesta Space Technology. And one post had this info:
If you notice most of the text, sounding very big and promising, actually conveys very little or no specific info. Another of Sureban's post on LinkedIn was this:
This shows Vestaspace is into ethereum blockchain. This immediately raised another red flag for me. Why does a purported space tech company is dealing in crypto currencies, which in themselves are mired in a lot of controversies.
But since this company Next Capital Tech is said to have picked a minority stake, I tried to check who owns Vestaspace and what is its capital structure. And this is what I found:
This company, with a paid-up capital of Rs. one lakh, is the one that is widely reported in the media to launch 35 satellites for 5G networks, which are anyway not even available in India as of now.
No, wait we're not done yet.
No, wait we're not done yet.
Arun Kumar Sureban has been quoted in news reports (he was even on a podcast: https://anchor.fm/story-cast/episodes/Building-of-Space-Tech-startup-with-Arun-Kumar-Sureban--Founder--MD-at-Vesta-Space-Technologies-Pvt--Ltd-edn25e) that he got $3 million by selling 'drone software' to an MNC, and used that money to start his company.
But nowhere he mentions which company bought his software and in which year. He says he also worked in NASA. Again, no clue when he did that. He was, as per his claim, doing his Masters till '17 and by '18 he is in India. So whed did he work in NASA?
He says he started his company in 2018, but by the incorporation details with the law board, it was started in 2019 Dec. Okay, we will let that pass.
Earlier this month, Vestaspace had claimed that it had got an investment of $ 10 million (close to Rs.75 crore) from Next Capital. All news reports said it as: Next Capital Llc. (Sample: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/vestaspace-gets-10-mn-from-next-capital-llc/articleshow/75586257.cms)
A cursory Googling reveals while newspapers think Next Capital Llc, which seems a big name, has nothing to do with Vestaspace. But newspapers, without verifying from Next Capital, have reported that this is the company that has funded Vestaspace.
In actuality, only a little known, and decidedly shady, that Noah Nelson's, whom we encountered earlier, Next Capital Tech ( https://nextcapitaltech.com/ ) has picked a 'minority stake' and that's passed off as funding. Next Capital's website is full of useless gobbledygook. Sample:
So what our elementary Googling has revealed is: Vestaspace, as of now, has no proof for any real projects done, forget about having launched small satellites. It doesn't seem to have offices of its own. Its claim of having received over Rs. 75 cr funding also looks dubious.
Arun Kumar Sureban may or may not be aeroscience engineer. But everything else about Vestaspace Technology looks totally made up or questionable. But look at our newspapers. They have reported that it is a company that is working with ISRO and NASA.
See, how breathlessly we journos report: https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/space-technology-startup-vestaspace-raises-10-mn-from-next-capital-llc-120050601258_1.html https://telecom.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/vestaspace-to-launch-35-satellites-for-pan-india-5g-connectivity/76001420
With the details we have now, Vestaspace has a lot to explain. One hopes that it is not an elaborate scam. A lot of things remain unclear. But what is clear is newspapers need to be more diligent, rather than merely repeat what companies purvey through press releases.
PS: This thread is also to show how understaffing the editorial rooms would lead to more such scandals.
