Skyroot Aerospace, a Hyderabad company that builds small launch rockets, raised about $60m in a round announced on 7 May 2026. Sherpalo Ventures and GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, co-led it.
The round values the company at $1.1bn, which makes it India's first space-tech unicorn, Via Satellite reported. Outlook Business described the figure as a pre-money valuation. Total funding is now about $160m, and the valuation has roughly doubled in about 30 months, according to the same reports.
Ram Shriram, founder of Sherpalo Ventures and a member of Alphabet's board, joins Skyroot's board, Outlook Business said.
“Access to space is one of the key challenges of our time.”Ram Shriram, Founder and Managing Partner, Sherpalo Ventures
Who invested
Existing investors that took part include the founders of Greenko Group and Arkam Ventures. New investors include funds managed by BlackRock, Playbook Partners and the Shanghvi Family Office, along with others.
Ram Shriram said: "Access to space is one of the key challenges of our time." Pawan Kumar Chandana, co-founder and chief executive, said the investment signals confidence from some of the world's most reputed investors.
Vikram-1 and Vikram-2
Skyroot said it will use the money to scale the launch cadence of Vikram-1, expand manufacturing capacity and speed up development of Vikram-2. Vikram-1, described by Outlook Business as India's first privately developed orbital rocket, had not yet flown. Skyroot said it expected a launch in the weeks following the announcement.
The company is aiming for assembly-to-launch in 72 hours, supported by its 250,000 sq ft Max-Q and Infinity facility in Hyderabad, Via Satellite reported. Chandana said Skyroot is targeting four to six launches this financial year, adding that this may change depending on observations from the first flight.
The Week reported that Vikram-1 is about 95% indigenous, is built from carbon fibre and has a 3D-printed upper stage, and that Skyroot expects strong demand from the telecom sector. Vikram-2 is described as a more advanced one-tonne-class vehicle with a cryogenic upper stage. Vikram-S, a suborbital mission in 2022, was the first privately built Indian rocket launch.
Skyroot's emphasis on small rockets is a deliberate choice. Chandana said, according to The Week, that the focus is on launch vehicles priced in the low millions of dollars, in contrast to the large launchers that cost billions to develop.
Founders and customers
Skyroot's co-founders are Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka. The Week said Chandana studied mechanical engineering at IIT Kharagpur and worked for six years at ISRO's Thiruvananthapuram facility, including on the LVM3 programme, and that Myntra founder Mukesh Bansal invested ₹10 crore early on.
Chandana told Via Satellite he expects about one-third of demand to be domestic, with Southeast Asia, Japan, the United States and Europe as key international markets. The Week reported that about 90% of customers are not from India.
Chandana was quoted by The Week as saying the company will not build big rockets costing billions but smaller ones that cost only a few million dollars. The sources did not give Skyroot's headcount.
Outlook Business noted that the round comes ahead of Vikram-1's maiden orbital flight, and that Skyroot's post on X said lift-off was expected within weeks.
Company website: skyroot.in