Watch out Elon Musk, India’s space business is fast catching up post the success of Chandrayaan-3. Among the first off-the-blocks is Agnikul, a space tech startup that is currently working on small-lift launch vehicles. The Chennai-based company has secured $26.7 million in fresh funding, taking the total investments to $40 million.
The Series-B round saw participation from VC investors such as Artha Ventures, Mayfield, India, Celesta Capital and Rocketship in addition to funds from existing investors including Pi Ventures and Speciate Invest. The funds would be utilized to scale existing technology to commercial use to set up mobile launchpads and other test infrastructure.
Funds to be used for developing infrastructure
Co-founder and CEO Srinath Ravichandran said in a statement: “With this capital, we will continue to drive our technology forward, building facilities and testing systems that we need to deliver a reliable product for our customers. We are grateful to our investors for supporting us in this endeavor.”
The startup had launched a single-piece 3D-printed engine and successfully tested it in early 2021. This marked a significant milestone in the company’s technology prowess as it secured a patent from the government of India for the same in 2022. In August this year, the company started the integration process of its advanced launch vehicle Agnibaan with its launch pad located at the Satish Dhawan Space Center at Sriharikota.
The company had noted this integration as significant, as it brought them closer to realizing their first controlled vertical ascent test that would validate all the technological building blocks required for complex orbital missions. In recent times, big and small tech companies are seeking launch options for their small satellites of up to 500 kg to enhance their solutions such as precise location tracking and internet connectivity in remote areas.
Demand for small satellite launches to grow
In fact, Elon Musk’s SpaceX is among a slew of existing players conducting rideshare missions for such launches. Growing demand resulted in space companies seeking innovations which has now led to a mushrooming of such companies in the US. However, India’s success in the recent moon mission has now brought startups like Agnikul into sharp focus.
Demand for satellite launches in the 50 tons to less than 300 kgs would grow steadily going forward and this is the space where Agnikul sees its play. The company has plans to develop multiple variants of its Agnibaan rocket and enhance the number of launches from one or two each year to the same numbers each month.
Ravichandran and his team are quite clear about the space they would like to occupy, noting that Agnikul hopes to complement ISRO in its efforts to handle launches of less than 300 kg payloads. In fact, ISRO is weighing the possibility of transferring its entire business around the low-Earth orbit launches to the private sector via the bidding route.
Where did it all start?
The company, which was founded in 2017 and has its offices currently at the IIT, Madras, is hoping to get into commercial launches soon. There are already discussions around some inbound interest from potential launch customers in Europe and Japan while some MOUs are already in the works. Agnikul expects to have its test flight before the end of 2023.
Of course, Agnikul is not the sole entity in this space with the likes of Skyroot Aerospace which has the Vikram S that can carry up to 80 kg payloads to around 100-kms. Then there is Rocket Lan that has the Electron rocket capable of launching small satellites. From Agnikul’s point of view, their differentiator could be the ability to customize vehicles depending on payloads that helps provide a cost advantage.
