Synopsis
Skyroot Aerospace, India's first spacetech unicorn, is poised for global growth, with significant demand expected from US, Europe, and Southeast Asia. The company, valued at $1.16 billion, is preparing for its Vikram-1 orbital launch, aiming to meet the increasing need for customized satellite launches and expand access to space.He added that the company — which has a post-money valuation of $1.16 billion — had to “break the glass ceiling” while raising capital in a sector where revenues take years to materialise.
“When a product and the revenue streams are few years away, it’s a very unique kind of fundraising one has to go through and it’s been very, very difficult. But once our Vikram-I launch happened (sub-orbital), there was a lot of interest as there was proven capability,” Chandana told ET in an interview today.
The Hyderabad-based startup founded by two former ISRO scientists — Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka — is preparing for the orbital launch of its Vikram-1 rocket from Sriharikota within the next two weeks, when it gets an official launch window. The company said the mission will carry a mix of domestic and international payloads.
Chandana said Skyroot’s focus is to meet the growing global demand for customised launches. Chandana has always described Skyroot as a “taxi for space” business, allowing customers to place satellites in customised orbits, inclinations, and altitudes based on their specific mission requirements, much like dropping a pin on a map.
“We are focussed on dedicated launches for unique orbital destinations, rather than shared rides,” he added.
With only a few players in the launch space, Chandana believes “the world needs more and more access to space… The impact of that is extremely high in various industries, whether it is agriculture, communication, government… I think it will transform a lot of industries and the world needs more access to space.”
Potential demand
Industry reports suggest nearly 45,000 satellites could be in orbit by 2030, almost four times the current levels. Most are expected to be small satellites.
Chandana also highlighted interest from the government. ”There is growing government interest in satellite constellations and future space programmes, although I cannot share specific details yet.”
He said earth observation (EO) and communication satellites comprise the major revenue stream, dominating the commercial small-satellite market globally.
Apart from these, Skyroot is also seeing interest emerging from experimental and next-generation space applications. These include companies working on space data centres, optical communication systems in space, and other new technology frontiers.
Unicorn club
Skyroot raised $60 million in the latest round co-led by Sherpalo Ventures and GIC, with participation from existing investors, including the founders of Greenko Group and Arkam Ventures. Ram Shriram, founder of Sherpalo and a board member at Alphabet Inc, will join Skyroot’s board. Sherpalo had previously led a $4.5 million round in Skyroot in 2022.
Other players in the global launch satellite market include US-headquartered RocketLab, a close competitor of Skyroot, Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Arianespace, and United Launch Alliance (ULA) among others.
Memory lane
Founded in July 2018, Skyroot was among the earliest private rocket startups to emerge from India’s newly liberalised space sector. Chandana and Daka, both IIT alumni and former scientists at ISRO’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, had previously worked on the GSLV Mk-III rocket known as 'Bahubali'. Chandana worked as a systems engineer for the S200 solid booster and later served as deputy project manager for SSLV, while Daka specialised in avionics and guidance systems.
Skyroot’s first institutional backing came from Myntra and CureFit founder Mukesh Bansal, who invested $1.5 million through Meraki Labs in 2018. The company later became the first private Indian startup to test-fire a liquid-fuel rocket engine in 2020.
Chandana said fundraising was hard in the early years as many believed that “it is rocket science” and therefore something only governments could do. According to him, many people believed a private company simply could not build rockets, especially in India where launch vehicles had historically remained within the government ecosystem.
He added that both cofounders came from strong technical backgrounds and were first-time entrepreneurs, which meant they also had to learn the business side from scratch.
“Understanding how to build an organisation, navigate the business landscape, raise capital, and scale a company became a learning process that evolved over time.”
Vikram II in the works
Sharing an update about Vikram-II, a 1-tonne class, advanced cryogenic upper-stage launch vehicle designed for higher payload capacity and multi-orbit deployment, Chandana said the company is targeting a launch sometime late next year.
Vikram-II could nearly double Skyroot’s payload capacity to the low-earth orbit compared to Vikram-I, positioning the vehicle for constellation deployments and larger commercial missions.
“Vikram-II is already under development and will share the same first-stage architecture as Vikram-I, which is a major advantage since that portion of the rocket would already be proven through this mission. Key difference in Vikram-II will be its upper stage, which will allow heavier payloads.”
