by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

Indian startup Agnikul Cosmos signed a framework memorandum of understanding (MOU) with India’s Department of Space on Friday for access to ISRO facilities and expertise for the development of its two-stage small-satellite Agnibaan launch vehicle.

Existing investors – Speciale Invest, pi Ventures, and Artha Ventures – along with prominent angels including, Naval Ravikant, Balaji Srinivasan, Anand Mahindra,, Aarthi Ramamurthy, and Sriram Krishnan invested in this round

CHENNAI, India, May 19, 2021 (Agnikul PR) — Space tech startup,Agnikul today announced raising $11 million in a Series A funding round led by Mayfield India, making it the largest funding round for a private Indian space technology company in India. Existing investors pi Ventures, Speciale Invest, and Artha Ventures also invested in this round. 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, among others. 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 the 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.

CHENNAI, India, December 8, 2020 (Agnikul Cosmos PR) — The Department of Space (DoS) and Agnikul Cosmos Private Limited, an IIT Madras based launch vehicle startup, are pleased to announce that they have signed a non-disclosure agreement under the newly proposed IN-SPACe entity. Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-SPACe) is an independent nodal agency under DoS for allowing space activities and usage of DOS owned facilities by private organizations as well as to prioritise the launch manifest.

Under the agreement, Agnikul will be able to work with various Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) centers to get access to technical information and facilities necessary to go forward with their launch vehicle development that will enable rapid space access to anyone launching a small satellite. This is a significant step & the first such step by the Department of Space in mentoring private players to collaborate with ISRO.