Aerospace manufacturing startup Agnikul Cosmos–backed by the likes of Forbes Midas Lister Navin Chaddha’s Mayfield Fund–raised $26.7 million in a Series B funding round, as investor optimism in India’s space industry takes off.
Participating in the round were new investors including Celesta Capital, Rocketship.vc, Artha Select Fund and Artha Venture Fund, and existing investors Mayfield India, Pi Ventures and Speciale Invest. The fresh capital brings the six-year-old startup’s total funding raised to $40 million. Agnikul declined to disclose its latest valuation.
“Agnikul’s pursuit of innovative space solutions aligns with our investment focus on India’s leading-edge deep tech sector,” said Arun Kumar, managing partner at Celesta Capital, in a statement. “We are excited to support their pioneering vision and innovative approach to modernizing and democratizing the space industry.”
Founded in 2017 and based in Chennai, India, Agnikul designs and manufactures rockets for satellites under 100 kilograms in weight. Its launch vehicle, the Agnibaan SubOrbital Technological Demonstrator (SOrTeD), has five possible configurations depending on the number of engines and stages used in the launch, and clients’ needs. Agnibaan integrates 3D-printed components, such as Agnilet, a patented 3D-printed rocket engine, which the startup claims is the world’s first such engine to be printed in a single piece.
The fresh capital will go towards Agnikul’s first set of commercial launches, the “building of key launch infrastructure,” and hiring production, operations and technology talent, according to the company. With a private launchpad located in the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Agnikul says its maiden launch is set for the end of 2023.
Srinath Ravichandran, cofounder and CEO at Agnikul, credits the success of India’s recent lunar mission with raising “the sentiment of every Indian and the space tech sector at large.” In August, the Indian Space Research Organization’s Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft touched down on the moon’s southern polar region, making India the first country to reach this region and the fourth country to land on the moon, after the United States, the former USSR and China. Months earlier, in April, Indian authorities unveiled the country’s first national space policy, outlining the participation of the private sector.
“India’s space industry is in an exciting growth trajectory, we were on the moon just recently and what could have been better than this?” Ravichandran wrote in an email to Forbes Asia. “With a burgeoning ecosystem of public and private enterprises, increased international collaboration, and a steadfast commitment to innovation, I see India’s space sector contributing significantly to global space exploration, satellite services, and environmental sustainability.”
A skyrocketing number of startups targeting the field of space technology, known as spacetech, have taken off in India. The country is home to 190 registered spacetech startups, according to an October report by Deloitte, the Indian Space Association, and trade association NASSCOM. This includes earth-imaging startup Pixxel, which raised $36 million in a Series B funding round in June, and Skyroot Aerospace, which raised $51 million last September in a Series B funding round led by Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC. Another rising spacetech is Bellatrix, an honoree of the inaugural Forbes Asia 100 to Watch list, which is in talks to receive funding from BASF Venture Capital, according to local media reports.
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