Skyroot Aerospace has secured $60 million in capital at a preliminary valuation of $1.1 billion, pushing the Hyderabad-based rocket launch into unicorn territory and showing investor confidence in India’s private space sector.
The round was co-led by GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, and Sherpalo Ventures, a firm run by Ram Shriram, an early Google investor and Silicon Valley personality. Shriram will join Skyroot’s Board of Directors, demonstrating his strong commitment to the business.
“I have believed in the Skyroot team since the early days and that belief only deepened as the team marched forward to the launch pad with Vikram-1, India’s first private orbital-class rocket,” he said in a statement. “Skyroot is building the foundational infrastructure for this future with the best cost-to-performance ratio in the orbital launch industry, and what the team has accomplished is remarkable.”
Read also | The numbers of tech unicorns are shrinking – AI hype over substance?
Last week, Skyroot checked off the Vikram-1 flight hardware from Hyderabad, marking the rocket’s formal departure to the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota.
The raise doubles Skyroot’s $550 million valuation three years ago and comes at a crucial time – as the company nears the launch of Vikram-1, which would become the first orbital-class rocket built and operated by a private Indian company. This would bring India into the club of nations with privately developed orbital launch capabilities.
Funding suggests an increase in Indian spacetech investment. Venture capital flows into the sector reached $276 million in 2025 across 33 deals, more than the total for the previous two years, as investors move from launch vehicles to Earth observation, space domain awareness and on-orbit services.
New investors in the lead of the company include the founders of Greenko Group, Shanghvi Family Office and Playbook Partners. Current investors in the company include Arkam Ventures and BlackRock.
Read also | Why Indian mid-cap startups are going public earlier
In 2022, Skyroot launched the Vikram-S, making it India’s first privately built rocket to reach space.
Its closest competitor Agnikul Cosmos raised $17.5 million in November, valuing 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 launch of Vikram-1, India’s first private orbital rocketwhich is a significant milestone for both India and the global space sector,” the company’s co-founder and CEO Pawan Kumar Chandana said in a statement.
The company says it will use the new funds to accelerate launches of its Vikram-1 rocket, scale up production and develop its second launch vehicle, Vikram-2. This is in addition to expanding the range of missions and customers Skyroot currently serves.
Read also | Fractal will penetrate the primary market as Indian IPOs continue in 2026
With companies like Skyroot and Agnikul preparing for launches this year, investors have started to move up the value chain and look beyond launch vehicles.
Early-stage investors like Zerodha-backed Arkam Ventures and Rainmatter Capital are now increasingly spending time on space technology.
While some VC firm are looking at domestic manufacturing plays for the industry, others are looking at areas like Earth observation, space domain awareness, space situational awareness, and in-orbit and space services.
