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Bringing space within everyone’s reach through customizable, 3D-printed launch vehicles.
Agnikul Cosmos: Building an On-Demand Highway to Space
What if launching a satellite could become as simple as booking a ride?
That is the idea behind Agnikul Cosmos, a Chennai-based spacetech startup founded in 2017 by Srinath Ravichandran, Moin SPM, and Prof. Satyanarayanan R. Chakravarthy.
Born out of the IIT Madras Research Park, Agnikul is building customizable rockets for small satellites, with a simple vision: “launch anywhere, anytime, affordably.”
At the centre of this vision is a technology that has changed how rocket engines can be manufactured—large-scale metal 3D printing.
Agnikul's founding team brought together finance, operations and deep aerospace research.
Srinath Ravichandran, the company's CEO, had worked as a derivatives manager on Wall Street before leaving finance to pursue his interest in building rockets.
Moin SPM, the COO, focuses on operations, production, supply chains and testing infrastructure.
And then there is Prof. Satyanarayanan R. Chakravarthy, head of the National Centre for Combustion Research and Development (NCCRD) at IIT Madras, who brought extensive expertise in combustion and rocket propulsion.
Together, they began working on a fundamental question:
Can rockets be manufactured faster, customized for individual missions and made accessible to a much larger space industry?
The answer began taking shape through Agnibaan, Agnikul's modular launch vehicle.
But its biggest milestone came on 30 May 2024.
From India's spaceport at Sriharikota, Agnikul successfully launched Agnibaan SOrTeD, its suborbital technology demonstrator.
The mission demonstrated the company's Agnilet engine, a single-piece, 3D-printed semi-cryogenic rocket engine. It also marked the first launch from a privately operated launchpad within India's spaceport.
For a young private space company, it was a defining moment.
The heart of Agnikul's technology is the Agnilet.
Traditional rocket engines contain numerous individually manufactured components that must be assembled, tested and integrated.
Agnikul took a different approach.
Its engine is produced as a single-piece structure using additive metal manufacturing.
According to the company, its manufacturing system can produce an engine in around seven days.
That changes more than just manufacturing speed. It allows the company to experiment with designs, make mission-specific configurations and simplify the production process.
The idea is simple: instead of manufacturing a rocket piece by piece, print critical components as complete structures.
Agnikul's main launch vehicle, Agnibaan, follows a modular architecture.
It is designed as a two-stage rocket capable of carrying small satellites to Low Earth Orbit, with configurations that can use different numbers of engines depending on mission requirements.
This flexibility is important because satellite operators do not all have the same requirements.
One customer may need a different orbit. Another may need a different payload capacity.
Agnikul's approach is to make the launch vehicle adaptable to those missions.
Agnikul has also built its own launch infrastructure.
Its “Dhanush” launchpad and mission control centre at Sriharikota is designed to give the company dedicated infrastructure for launch operations.
This creates an important piece of the company's larger strategy:
Build the rocket. Build the manufacturing system. Build the launch infrastructure.
Agnikul's ambitions have grown beyond its first rocket.
The company has expanded its engineering team to more than 200 people, with expertise that includes former ISRO scientists and engineers.
Its investor base includes Lightspeed Venture Partners, Celesta Capital, Rocketship.vc, Artha Venture Fund, Mayfield, pi Ventures, HDFC Bank and TIDCO.
In 2026, Tamil Nadu's industrial development agency TIDCO invested ₹25 crore in Agnikul, becoming an important example of government participation in India's private space sector.
Agnikul's long-term plans extend into reusability.
The company is developing technologies aimed at recovering rocket stages and increasing the amount of hardware that can be used across missions. It has also discussed a recovery mission targeted for late 2027.
Another ambitious direction is space-based computing.
In 2026, Agnikul partnered with NeevCloud on a proof-of-concept for an orbital AI data centre, exploring whether space-based infrastructure could eventually support energy-intensive computing.
India's space industry is moving from being dominated by government institutions to becoming an ecosystem involving private launch companies, satellite manufacturers, investors and technology startups.
Agnikul wants to occupy an important part of that ecosystem: the launch vehicle.
Its story is therefore bigger than a 3D-printed engine.
It is about changing the economics and flexibility of accessing space.
Build faster. Customize the mission. Launch more often.
From an IIT Madras laboratory to Sriharikota, Agnikul Cosmos is attempting to turn that idea into a working commercial space business—and build an Indian launch system for the growing global small-satellite market.
