Chennai-based rocket startup Agnikul Cosmos announced on Tuesday that it has raised Rs 200 crore or $26.7 million in a Series B round, bringing the total amount of capital raised by the company to about $40 million.

The latest round saw participation from new venture capital investors such as Celesta Capital, Artha Venture Fund, Mayfield India, Rocketship.vc, and Artha Select Fund. According to Agnikul Cosmos, existing investors pi Ventures, Speciale Invest, Mayfield India and others also participated in the Series B round. 

The space tech startup aims to utilise the funds to invest in key facilities necessary to address launch-on-demand customer needs and scale its existing technology towards commercialisation.

The startup was founded by Srinath Ravichandran and Moin SPM in 2017 and incubated by SR Chakravarthy at IIT Madras and manufactures launch vehicles. It aims to democratise space exploration by making it both accessible and cost-effective. Agnikul currently employs 225 people and plans to get to around 325 employees over the next year. 

Srinath Ravichandran, Co-founder and CEO of Agnikul, said that they plan to continue to drive their technology forward, building facilities and testing systems they need to deliver a reliable product for our customers.