Space startup Agnikul raises ₹150 crore Series C round as new investors crowd in

Aerospace startup Agnikul has raised ₹150 crore in a Series C round, two people familiar with the matter told Mint, after its earlier plan to raise up to $50 million failed to draw sufficient investor interest.

“This is a separate fundraise from the $50 million that the company had been looking to raise since last year,” said the first of the two persons cited earlier, both of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity.

“Both the rounds ran parallelly but an existing investor put in a term sheet for a lower amount,” said the person cited above. “The $50 million round didn't happen, as there wasn't demand or investor appetite at the time.”

As part of the current round, new investors Advenza Global Ltd and Atharva Green Ecotech Pvt Ltd invested ₹30 crore each earlier this month, according to filings with the ministry of corporate affairs. Agnikul also raised ₹7 crore in debt financing from Pratithi Investments, according to Crunchbase.

With the new capital, Agnikul's total fundraise has reached nearly $58 million since its founding in 2017.

Chennai-based Agnikul, which develops and launches small satellite launch vehicles, last raised $26.7 million in its Series B round from Celesta Capital, Rocketship.vc, Artha Venture Fund, Artha Select Fund, and Mayfield India in 2023.

However, the lead investor from the previous fundraise, Celesta Capital, isn't participating in the current round.

“The company has seen a lot of in-bound interest from family offices and corporate venture capital funds who are offering to put in larger cheques,” the second person said. “However, some others are waiting on the sidelines for the company's orbital launch before they come in to invest.”

Mint has emailed queries to Agnikul, and the story will be updated when they respond.

Funding momentum rising

Deeptech in India has been seeing a surge of investments across aerospace, spacetech, defence, manufacturing and even robotics. Earlier this month, the Small Industries Development Bank of India’s arm SIDBI Venture Capital Ltd made its first close of ₹ ₹1,005 crore for its 12th fund, the Antariksh Venture Capital Fund, which is focused on making space-tech investments.

Space tech startups coming out of India include hyperspectral satellite imaging company Pixxel, aerospace manufacturer and commercial launch service provider Agnikul Cosmos, small satellite manufacturer Bellatrix Aerospace, and imaging satellite company GalaxEye.

This year, deeptech has seen larger generalist funds coming in to back deeptech companies, despite their longer gestation periods. Funds like Peak XV Partners, Accel, and Elevation Capital have been writing cheques to more deeptech companies this year.

Accel alone has done four deals so far this year, including a $3 million seed investment in micro gas turbine firm Nabhdrishti Aerospace, a $10 million Series A in electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) maker Sarla Aviation, and composites manufacturer Fabheads. It also led Scimplify's $40 million Series B round.