Cosmochute raises $1.5m to build lunar rovers as private space sector surges

Space robotics startup Cosmochute has raised $1.5 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Accel and Prosus Ventures to build modular vehicles for the lunar surface.

The investment round was conducted through the Atoms X programme, an accelerator where Cosmochute is one of seven companies selected for the inaugural cohort. Other participants included IIMA Ventures' Deep-tech and Aerospace Acceleration Fund, Operators Studio, and angel investor Chinmayi Muthyala.

Cosmochute plans to spend the capital on expanding its engineering workforce, advancing its commercial roadmap, and developing its primary vehicle architecture, named LEAP.

What the LEAP platform does

LEAP is designed as a standardised mobility system for the Moon. Instead of designing a brand-new rover for every mission, the system pairs a modular rover and trailer with uniform payload bays.

This setup allows commercial and scientific payloads to share the same transit architecture, reducing bespoke design costs and making Moon landings more routine. The company will establish its testing and development facilities at IIMA Ventures' incubation centre in Ahmedabad.

The startup is guided by Mylswamy Annadurai, the former programme director of the Indian Space Research Organisation's Chandrayaan-1 mission.

Deeptech momentum in India's space ecosystem

Founded in 2026 by Janhavi Gore, Amit Chowdhary, and Dhruv Alok Sangal, Cosmochute represents the expanding frontier of India's private space industry. A succession of national policy reforms has opened the country's space infrastructure to commercial enterprise, creating room for domestic ventures to move well beyond satellite manufacturing and launch vehicles.

Janhavi Gore framed the company's ambition in the context of this national transition. "Space 1.0 was ISRO proving India could reach orbit. Space 2.0 made orbit commercial: cheaper, more frequent, and open to private capital," Gore said. "With sustainable access now secured, we believe it’s the moment for Space 3.0 — what happens after you make the in-space economy operable and extend it to the surface of the Moon."

Investor interest reflects growing international confidence in India's technical depth, particularly following high-profile lunar exploration successes that demonstrated low-cost, high-reliability engineering.

"Cosmochute builds on our conviction that the infrastructure for a lunar economy can be both technically feasible and commercially viable," said Pratik Agarwal, partner at Accel. "Their first-principles thinking, technical expertise, and systems approach is exactly what we look for."

Beyond lunar exploration, Cosmochute intends to adapt its mobility systems for wider in-space operations and specialised terrestrial robotics over the long term.