Agnikul Cosmos’ FY23 Loss Doubles To INR 20.2 Cr, Yet To Earn From Operations

Spacetech startup Agnikul Cosmos saw its net loss more than double year-on-year to INR 20.2 Cr in FY23, as it continued to spend on its business while the operating revenue remained zero.

Agnikul reported a loss of INR 9 Cr on a total revenue of INR 2.2 Cr in FY22. The startup’s revenue increased 31.8% to INR 2.9 Cr in FY23.

Founded by Srinath Ravichandran and Moin SPM in 2017, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Madras incubated startup, Agnikul, is building India’s first private launch vehicle for small satellite rockets, Agnibaan. It is still under development. With the launch vehicle, the startup is looking to cater to clients planning to launch small satellites and reduce their dependence on expensive large launch vehicles.

The startup has also manufactured a single-piece 3D-printed engine, which was fully conceived and manufactured in India and is claimed to be the first such engine in the world.

Agnikul currently earns its revenue from subsidies, awards, interest income and other non-operating sources.

The startup has raised over $60 Mn in total funding so far. It counts the likes of Celesta Capital, Rocketship.vc, Artha Venture Fund and Artha Select Fund, pi Ventures, Speciale Invest, and Mayfield India among its marquee investors. 

Zooming Into The Expenses

Agnikul’s total expenses also more than doubled to INR 23.1 Cr in FY23 from INR 11.2 Cr in the previous year with a significant portion of it going into employee cost, rental cost as well as depreciation and amortisation costs.

Employee Benefit Expenses: Agnikul spent INR 9.7 Cr in employee costs in FY23, a 44.8% jump from INR 6.7 Cr spent in the bucket in the prior fiscal.

In that, a majority portion, INR 8.4 Cr, was spent towards salaries and stipends.

Employee cost alone contributed 42% to the startup’s total expense in FY22.

Depreciation and Amortisations: The spacetech startup’s spending in this bucket jumped 205% to INR 3.5 Cr in the year under review from INR 1.2 Cr in FY22.

Rental Cost: Agnikul spent INR 3 Cr in total rental expenses in FY23, a sharp jump from INR 21 Lakh spent in the bucket in FY22.

In August last year, Agnikul started the integration process of its launch vehicle with its private launchpad located at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR at Sriharikota and is inching closer to the launch of a sub-orbital rocket, set to be the country’s second private launch following Skyroot’s Vikram-S.