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Skyroot Aerospace has raised $60 million at a $1.1 billion valuation, becoming India's first spacetech unicorn, backed by Singapore's GIC and billionaire Ram Shriram's venture firm. The raise comes weeks before the planned launch of Vikram-1, India's first privately developed orbital rocket.
Pawan Chandana, co-founder and chief executive at Skyroot. (Skyroot Aerospace)Skyroot Aerospace has secured $60 million in capital at a pre-money valuation of $1.1 billion, pushing the Hyderabad-based launch vehicle startup into unicorn area and displaying the investor confidence in India's privately-owned space sector.
The round was co-led by GIC, Singapore's state-owned sovereign wealth fund, and Sherpalo Ventures, the firm run by Ram Shriram, an early Google investor and a Silicon Valley figure. Shriram will join Skyroot's board, showing his strong commitment to the venture.
“I've believed in the Skyroot team since the early days, and that conviction has only deepened as the team marches forward to the launchpad with Vikram-1, India’s first private orbital-class rocket,” he said in a statement. “Skyroot is building the foundational infrastructure for that future with the best cost-to-performance ratio in the orbital-launch industry, and what the team has achieved is remarkable.”
Last week, Skyroot flagged off Vikram-1's flight hardware from Hyderabad, marking the rocket's formal departure for the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
The raise has doubled Skyroot's valuation from the $550 million it commanded three years ago and arrives at a crucial moment—when the company nears the launching of Vikram-1, which would become the first orbital-class rocket built and flown by a private Indian company. This would bring India into a club of nations with privately developed orbital launch capabilities.
The funding indicates the increase in Indian spacetech investment. Venture capital flows into the sector hit $276 million across 33 deals in 2025, more than the total of the previous two years, as investors move beyond launch vehicles into earth observation, space domain awareness, and in-orbit services.
New investors on the company's captable include the Greenko Group's founders, the Shanghvi Family Office and Playbook Partners. Existing investors in the company include Arkam Ventures and BlackRock.
Back in 2022, Skyroot had launched Vikram-S, making it India's first privately built rocket to reach space.
Its closest competitor, Agnikul Cosmos which raised $17.5 million back in November which valued the company at $500 million. The startup is expected to launch its own vehicle sometime this year.
“We at Skyroot are excited about the upcoming Vikram-1 launch, India's first private orbital rocket, marking a significant milestone both for India and the global space sector,” said company co-founder and chief executive Pawan Kumar Chandana in a statement.
The company says that it will be using the new funds to accelerate launches of its Vikram-1 rocket, scale manufacturing and develop its second launch vehicle, Vikram-2. This is in addition to expanding the range of missions and customers Skyroot currently serves.
With companies like Skyroot and Agnikul prepping launches this year, investors have begun moving up the value chain, targeting areas outside just launch vehicles.
Early stage investors like Arkam Ventures and Zerodha-backed Rainmatter Capital are now increasingly spending time on spacetech.
While some VC firms are looking at domestic manufacturing plays for the sector, others are looking at areas like earth observation, space domain awareness, space situational awareness, and in-orbit and in-space services.
About the Author
Rwit Ghosh
Rwit is a correspondent at Mint covering India’s burgeoning startup ecosystem and the venture capital and private equity firms that back them. Sitting out of Bengaluru, he writes on the new-age tech businesses that the city and the rest of the country seems to continuously be birthing.<br><br> While Rwit’s interests lie in covering the new wave of deeptech, AI, SaaS and consumer tech businesses, he’ll write on consumer brands and fintech (if someone repeatedly explains these sectors to him).<br><br> When he’s not scrolling through the Indian startup forums on Reddit, Rwit is usually trying to figure out early signs of what’s to come next in the ecosystem. As a result, he’s been early to spot trends like VCs becoming more active in backing deeptech, funding bottlenecks for agentic AI startups and a potential revival in edtech through AI. <br><br>Prior to his ongoing stint at Mint, Rwit worked at NDTV Profit as a social media producer while also working on his own stories for the TV channel after he graduated from the Asian College of Journalism in Chennai. <br><br>When he’s not working on stories, he can be found trying to figure out where he should go to eat next in Bengaluru, or what his next tattoo should look like. If you see him in the wild, you should ask him how he pronounces his name. He’s definitely not tired of being asked about it.
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