Skyroot Aerospace becomes India’s first space-tech unicorn; valued at $1.1 billion

MUMBAI: India just launched its first space-tech unicorn—Hyderabad born Skyroot Aerospace has bagged a fresh $60 million in funding co-led by Sherpalo Ventures and GIC at a valuation of $1.1 billion, more than double its last valuation of about $500 million, underlining high investor appetite for the space which is still a fledgling one but where the opportunity can be huge. With this, Skyroot becomes fourth Indian startup unicorn this year (overall) after Juspay, Neysa and KreditBee.The startup’s existing backers including the founders of Greenko Group and Arkam Ventures also pitched in alongside new investors Playbook Partners, funds managed by BlackRock, Shanghvi family office and others, bolstering the firm’s captable. Tech investor Ram Shriram who is the founder of Sherpalo and a board member of Alphabet which owns Google will join Skyroot’s board, the company said on Thursday. Skyroot is a private space launch company which is developing orbital rockets. In 2022, Skyroot launched Vikram-S, India’s first privately built rocket to reach space. The fresh capital will be used to ramp up its manufacturing capacities, invest in machinery and testing facilities to help more launches, co-founder & CEO Pawan Kumar Chandana told TOI in an interview. “We have received interest from customers across the globe especially from the US, Europe and South East Asia,” Chandana said. In all, the company has raised $160 million in funding.The latest funding comes as the startup readies Vikram-1, India’s first privately developed orbital rocket for its maiden flight. Skyroot is in a pre-revenue stage now but will start making money later this year as commercial launches start kicking in, said Chandana, adding that more than 70% of the company’s business will come from overseas markets. Globally, the broader space industry is pegged at $600 billion with a potential to touch an estimated $1.8 trillion by 2035. The launch space where Skyroot operates is estimated to grow to a $40-50 billion market by the end of the decade, said Chandana. A strong supply side ecosystem, availability of investor capital along with the govt’s support for the space sector places Indian companies well to get business. “Access to launch has been a very difficult business across the globe. Building a rocket is one of the toughest feats in engineering and very few companies are able to do it,” said Chandana.Globally, SpaceX and Rocket Lab are the two major players offering launch services. In India, Agnikul Cosmos is a player in the segment. In a statement, the Indian Space Association said that Skyroot’s unicorn funding will boost investor confidence and help India’s aim of securing a 10% share of the global space economy by 2023.