Trishul Space Raises ₹4 Cr to Advance Harpy-1 Liquid Rocket Engine

Trishul Space, a Delhi-based propulsion startup, has secured ₹4 crore in pre-seed funding led by the IAN Angel Fund, with participation from 8X Ventures and ITEL. The capital will accelerate research and testing of advanced turbopump technology and support development of Harpy-1, a staged-combustion liquid engine that uses AI-driven failure detection.

Funding and purpose

Trishul Space raised ₹4 crore from a syndicate led by the IAN Angel Fund, joined by 8X Ventures and ITEL. The company says the funds will be channelled into research and testing of advanced turbopump technology, a critical subsystem for high-performance liquid engines, and to push Harpy-1 toward demonstration and commercialisation.

The round is positioned as pre-seed capital to close early technical risk and speed the transition from lab prototypes to test-ready hardware. The founders described the investment as both a confidence vote and a runway extender for near-term development milestones.

Trishul Space is developing high-performance propulsion systems that rely on staged combustion cycles — a thermodynamic approach that yields higher specific impulse and efficiency but increases engineering complexity. Within that architecture, turbopumps are key: they pressurise and feed propellants into the combustion chamber at the high pressures required for staged-combustion operation.

The startup also integrates AI-driven failure detection mechanisms aimed at predicting and isolating anomalies in turbopump and engine behaviour during tests. That combination — mature thermochemical design plus data-driven health monitoring — targets faster iteration and reduced test-stand risk.

Building rocket engines is capital- and time-intensive. By focusing on modular, plug-and-play propulsion systems such as Harpy-1, Trishul Space aims to cut development time and lower entry barriers for private launch vehicle integrators and government programmes seeking flexible propulsion options.

Trishul Space was founded by Aditya Singh, Divyam, and Rajat Choudhary. On the funding, Rajat Choudhary, co-founder of Trishul Space, said: “This investment is a strong validation of our vision to build India’s most advanced and reliable rocket propulsion systems. With this support, we aim to accelerate the development and testing of our ‘Harpy-1’ engine, strengthen India’s space launch ecosystem, and move one step closer to making space access faster, affordable, and globally competitive. In addition, IAN’s mentoring and guidance would help us build valuable business.”

Market context: small-sat launch demand and propulsion economics

Trishul positions itself in the small and medium launch vehicle market, a segment that the company cites as projected to cross USD 15 billion by 2030. Within launch costs, propulsion systems typically account for 30–40% of total expenses — meaning advances in engine design and modularity can materially change launcher economics.

By offering off-the-shelf liquid engines, the startup hopes to help vehicle builders avoid the long lead times and specialised engineering effort required to design engines from first principles. That plug-and-play approach could accelerate new entrants and reduce per-launch costs for small-sat customers, who prize rapid cadence and predictable pricing.

Risks, timeline and next steps

Engine development entails technical risk across design, materials, turbomachinery, combustion stability, and test validation. Turbopump reliability is a frequent bottleneck — the system is mechanically and thermally demanding. Trishul’s roadmap must prove both performance and repeatability in test campaigns.

In the near term, the funding will primarily support turbopump R&D, test rigs and instrumentation to validate Harpy-1’s staged-combustion cycle and AI health-monitoring systems. Commercialisation will require a sequence of hot-fire tests, integrated stage tests, and customer-grade certification or acceptance processes.

Investor angle: deep-tech conviction and mentorship

IAN Angel Fund’s lead role signals investor appetite for deep-tech space plays with hardware milestones and defensible IP. The founders explicitly call out mentoring as a value add: early-stage space startups benefit from experienced guidance on supplier networks, test logistics and regulatory touchpoints as much as from capital.

Participation from 8X Ventures and ITEL diversifies the investor mix, bringing both space domain interest and connections for engineering and manufacturing scale-up.

Trishul Space’s ₹4 crore pre-seed round is a concentrated, technical bet on propulsion — a hard engineering problem that acts as a gatekeeper for domestic launch capability. By targeting turbopumps, staged-combustion engines and AI-enabled reliability, the startup aims to reduce time-to-flight for new launchers and lower the cost of entry. Execution risk remains high, but successful hardware demonstrations could make Trishul a strategic supplier in India’s growing private space ecosystem