Skyroot Bags $60 Mn To Become India’s First Spacetech Unicorn

Spacetech startup Skyroot Aerospace has raised $60 Mn (around ₹570 Cr) in a round co-led by existing investors American billionaire Ram Shriram’s Sherpalo Ventures and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC. 

The round also saw participation from BlackRock, Playbook Partners, Shanghvi Family Office, and existing investors including the founders of Greenko Group and Arkam Ventures. 

Shriram will also join the startup’s board, it said. 

The funding round doubled Skyroot’s pre-money valuation to $1.1 Bn from $550 Mn in 2023. The startup has raised $155 Mn in funding to date, including $51 Mn in its Series B round in 2022. 

Founded in 2018 by Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka, Skyroot has built a modular space launch vehicle that caters to the small satellite market. For context, modular space launch vehicles allow flexibility to interchange components as per the needs of the mission and payload.

The startup plans to utilise the fresh capital to establish a regular flow of Vikram-1 launches, scale up its manufacturing capabilities and expand its range of missions. Notably, Skyroot is preparing for the launch of Vikram-1 — India’s first privately developed orbital rocket.

The startup also plans to use the funds to ramp up development of its new rocket Vikram-2, which will be a 1 tonne class launch vehicle powered by an advanced cryogenic stage, which is the final stage of a space launch vehicle. 

(The story will be updated soon)

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