Indian firm Skyroot Aerospace secured $60 million in a recent funding round, thereby becoming India’s inaugural space “unicorn”—a startup valued at over $1 billion. Following this transaction, the company’s valuation settled at $1.1 billion.
The round was jointly spearheaded by the US fund Sherpalo Ventures and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, GIC. Existing and new investors also participated in the financing. This latest injection brings Skyroot’s total capital raised up to $160 million.
The core project for the company is the Vikram-1 light-class rocket. It features three solid-propellant stages and a liquid upper stage, capable of lofting up to 350 kg to low Earth orbit (LEO) and up to 260 kg to sun-synchronous orbit (SSO).
While the inaugural launch of Vikram-1 is yet to occur, the company successfully conducted suborbital tests of a prototype back in 2022. Recently, the first flight-ready rocket was transported from its Hyderabad headquarters to the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, India’s primary spaceport. Skyroot has indicated that “the takeoff will happen in the coming weeks.”
Assuming the schedule holds, Vikram-1 is poised to be the first privately developed and launched orbital rocket from India. This represents a significant milestone for the nation, which has been actively deregulating its space sector in recent years, aiming to cultivate its own commercial launch and satellite service industry.
The newly acquired capital will finance not only the scaling up of Vikram-1 production but also the development of the more capable Vikram-2 rocket. This next-generation vehicle will incorporate a cryogenic upper stage and will be able to place as much as 900 kg into LEO and up to 600 kg into SSO. The first flight for Vikram-2 is anticipated as early as 2027.
Skyroot’s co-founder and CEO, Pawan Kumar Chandana, remarked that the impending Vikram-1 launch will be a crucial landmark, not only for India but for the global space sector. The company emphasized the diverse, international nature of its investor base: Sherpalo Ventures operates out of California, and GIC stands as one of Asia’s most prominent state-backed investment funds.
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