Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace, a private space launch company, has raised $60 million (around Rs 570 crore) from Ram Shriram’s Sherpalo, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, BlackRock, the founders of renewable energy company Greenko Group, Arkam Ventures, Playbook Partners, Shanghvi Family Office, and other investors, it announced on May 7.
While the founders of Playbook Partners and Shanghvi Family Office are all new investors in the company, Sherpalo, GIC, BlackRock, the Greenko Group, and Arkam Ventures are all existing backers of Skyroot Aerospace. The round was co-led by Sherpalo and GIC.
Skyroot is valued at $1.1 billion, up from around $519 million in 2023. Skyroot is now among India’s most well-funded space-tech startups and is also the first unicorn, a private company valued at $1 billion or more, to emerge from the industry.
“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. This investment signals confidence from some of the world’s most reputed investors in Skyroot,” said Pawan Kumar Chandana, co-founder & CEO, Skyroot Aerospace.
The company made an orbital launch in 2023 and is preparing for another launch now in the coming weeks.
“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. Access to space is one of the key challenges of our time,” said Ram Shriram, Founder & Managing Partner, Sherpalo Ventures.
“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. I am proud to deepen my partnership with them as they take their next giant leap,” he added.
The new capital will enable Skyroot to: establish a high cadence of Vikram-1 launches; scale up manufacturing; and develop Vikram-2 (a 1-tonne class launch vehicle powered by an advanced cryogenic stage), expanding the range of missions and customers it can serve.
With this round, the total funding Skyroot has raised crosses $160 million (Rs 1,500 crore).
