Published: October 16, 2026
StartupFeed Quick Take
- The Cosmochute pre-seed round raised $1.5 Mn, led by Accel and Prosus Ventures through the Atoms X programme.
- Chandrayaan-1 programme director Mylswamy Annadurai is the Ahmedabad startup’s chief scientist.
- Cosmochute will use the money to build LEAP, a modular Moon rover, and set up lunar labs at IIMA Ventures.
Cosmochute, an Ahmedabad space-robotics startup, raised $1.5 Mn on October 15 in its first pre-seed round to build robots for the Moon.
The funding announcement shows Accel and Prosus Ventures led the round through Atoms X, their joint early-stage programme for frontier science startups.
Under the programme, Prosus matches Accel’s cheque. IIMA Ventures’ Deep-tech and Aerospace fund, Operators Studio and angel investor Chinmayi Muthyala also joined.
Founders Janhavi Gore, Amit Chowdhary and Dhruv Alok Sangal started Cosmochute in 2026. The aim is infrastructure for a working lunar economy.
Co-founder Janhavi Gore framed the bet in terms of India’s space journey:
“Space 1.0 was ISRO proving India could reach orbit. Space 2.0 made orbit commercial: cheaper, more frequent, and open to private capital.”
Janhavi Gore, co-founder, Cosmochute. From the company’s funding statement, October 15, 2026.
What the Cosmochute Pre-Seed Round Funds
The money will build LEAP, Cosmochute’s first platform: a rover and trailer with standard payload bays that carry equipment across the Moon.
Today, getting equipment onto the Moon means building custom hardware for each mission. Cosmochute wants to change that. Standard parts would make Moon missions cheaper and easier to repeat.
Beyond LEAP, the funding also covers new engineers and lunar labs at the IIMA Ventures campus in Ahmedabad.
Guiding the science is Mylswamy Annadurai, former programme director of India’s Chandrayaan-1 mission, who is listed as chief scientist.
What this means for you: If you are a deep-tech founder in India pitching investors like Accel or Prosus, this round shows capital is flowing to pre-revenue, long-horizon space bets. Watch the Atoms X programme for similar early cheques, and track whether Cosmochute’s LEAP rover reaches a test milestone through 2027.
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