[Deeptech funding] Agnikul raises $ 11Mn in Series A round

Space Tech start-up, Agnikul announced raising $11 million in a Series A funding round led by Mayfield India. Existing investors pi Ventures, Speciale Invest and Artha Venture Fund also invested in this round. As a part of the round, Mayfield India’s managing partner Vikram Godse will be joining the board of the company. The funds will be deployed to strengthen and build robust technology infrastructure, expand ground testing and build a world class team to help Agnikul become India’s first private player to launch satellites in space.

The round also saw participation from BEENEXT, Globevestor, LionRock Capital and prominent angel investors  - Anand Mahindra, Naval Ravikant, Balaji Srinivasan, Nithin Kamath, Abhishek Singhania, Aarthi Ramamurthy and Sriram Krishnan, Anicut Angel Fund, LetsVenture among others.

Founded in 2017 by Srinath Ravichandran, Moin SPM & Prof. SR Chakravarthy (from IIT Madras), Agnikul is building India’s first private small satellite launch vehicle - Agnibaan, a rocket that enables plug-and-play configuration and is capable of carrying up to 100 kg of payload to low Earth orbits. This on-demand rocket can be fully customized to the customer’s needs at an affordable cost. Agnikul's diverse team of rocket scientists, engineers, and investors are working on the vision of making space accessible and affordable. The IIT Madras incubated start-up is looking to complete its first mission sometime next year.

Earlier this year, Agnikul successfully test fired the world's first 3D printed rocket engine - Agnilet. This higher stage semi cryogenic rocket engine is unique because it is completely 3D printed in one run as a single component. Agnikul is the only company in the world that has designed a semi cryo rocket which can be built fully using 3D printing technology.

Speaking about the investment, Srinath Ravichandran, Co-founder and CEO, Agnikul, said, “In these difficult times for humanity as a whole, we are thankful to be able to find excitement, as our investors continue to reaffirm their confidence in our strategy of democratizing small satellite launches. We are thankful to have ISRO’s guidance and happy that the Government is enabling private space tech ventures. With this support from the Government and investors, we look forward to an exciting next step for our company and in the process, simplifying access to space.”

Moin SPM, Co-founder and COO, Agnikul, further added, “In the next two years we want to perfect getting to orbit. This is a large effort by itself and we are keeping our focus to just this for now. We are proud to be building from India and we will continue to strategize on efficient realization techniques such as 3d printing to build world class space technology in India.”

“Agnikul is democratising access to space for the small satellite market, which is largely underserved globally. For these customers, this is a game changer as they now have zero wait time and can control their own mission, all at an affordable cost. The team’s customer centric approach combined with their ability to constantly innovate will help them stay ahead of competition and build a global success story. We are excited to back Srinath and Moin on their journey to space”, said Vikram Godse, Managing Partner, Mayfield India.

“Agnikul is one of the unique companies to come out of India. Their mission of democratising access to space on the back of fundamentally disruptive technology is awe inspiring. We at pi are fortunate to be associated with them. It aligns with our vision of backing disruptive companies solving global problems via tech innovations very well. With this round, they are well on their way to achieving their mission. All the very best to them”, said Manish Singhal, Founding Partner, pi Ventures.

In December 2020, Agnikul became the first space start-up to sign an agreement with Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) under the newly announced IN-SPACe initiative to have access to the space agency’s expertise and its facilities to build Agnibaan.

“We invest in companies that are redefining the future of deep tech and space tech, and are excited to continue on this journey with Agnikul by participating in this funding round. This funding is a strong validation for the opportunity in global private space and the potential to build deep-tech companies from India for the world. With this investment, Speciale will continue to fuel Agnikul’s efforts to further push India’s self-reliance in this space”, said Vishesh Rajaram, Managing Partner, Speciale Invest.

In the past, Agnikul had raised Rs 23.4 Cr ($3.1 Mn) in a Pre-Series A funding from institutional investors - pi Ventures, Hari Kumar (LionRock Capital), Artha Venture Fund, LetsVenture, Globevestor, CIIE, and Speciale Invest in March 2020 and the seed round of funding from Speciale Invest in 2019.