Three weeks after Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace became India’s first space unicorn, the startup’s cap table has added two new names, both among the most familiar faces in India’s startup ecosystem over the past decade.
On 27 May, food delivery major Swiggy's cofounder and group chief executive Sriharsha Majety, and former cofounder Nandan Reddy, each invested ₹4.99 crore in an ongoing pre-series C2 funding round at Skyroot Aerospace.
As per Skyroot’s regulatory filings accessed by Mint, Majety and Reddy each acquired 202 compulsorily convertible preference shares (CCPS). The funding round valued Skyroot Aerospace at $1.25 billion (around ₹11,875 crore) post-money, days after it attained unicorn status by raising $60 million (around ₹570 crore).
CCPS are securities that convert into equity at a future date, typically when a company goes public or during specified liquidity events. The instrument is widely used in private equity and venture capital because it enables companies to raise capital without immediately diluting founder shareholding.
Majety and Reddy join a growing list of prominent entrepreneurs backing India’s most valuable space startup, including Myntra cofounder Mukesh Bansal, Greenko Group cofounder Anil Chalamalasetty and steel magnate Lakshmi Niwas Mittal.
Emails sent to Skyroot’s cofounder and chief executive Pawan Kumar Chandana, Majety and Reddy, did not receive responses till press time.
Why entrepreneurs are backing deeptech
Industry stakeholders said successful entrepreneurs backing high-growth deep-tech ventures is a well-established trend globally and reflects growing confidence in Skyroot’s prospects as a private space-launch services provider.
“Successful entrepreneurs are critical supporters of the next generation of advanced startups,” said Pranav Pai, managing partner at Bengaluru-based early-stage venture capital firm, 3One4.
“Back when IT services found success, their founders backed India’s early startups. Those risks, which paid off, created entrepreneurs that are now backing India’s deep-tech builders. These are risks taken from positions of strength—Sachin Bansal of Flipkart invested in Ather at a difficult time, and Zomato’s Deepinder Goyal has started an aerospace venture too,” Pai added.
“Majety, by investing in Skyroot, is supporting a critical platform for the future of space tech,” Pai said.
Skyroot’s launch ambitions
Founded in 2018, Skyroot Aerospace became India’s first private firm to conduct a suborbital rocket launch from Indian soil in November 2022. It is expected to make its first commercial launch later this fiscal year, when its indigenously developed Vikram rocket is expected to successfully deploy satellite payloads in Earth’s orbit.
India’s space sector was opened for private sector participation in 2020, prior to which only the government-backed Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) was allowed to build, launch and operate rockets from India.
Skyroot’s Vikram, a lightweight and modular rocket built to deploy small satellites in low-earth orbits, is named after Vikram Sarabhai, the first chairman of Isro. The company is targeting three demonstration launches of its rocket by 2027, and expects to generate commercial revenue by December next year, Chandana told Mint in an interview on 7 May.
On 14 May, Mint also reported about a SpaceX-style stock options plan that Skyroot’s shareholders approved for Chandana and his cofounder Naga Bharath Daka—giving them up to 4% stake in the company if they can successfully deploy a satellite in orbit, carry a 200-kilogram payload to orbit, and raise $100 million at a valuation of $1 billion.
The plan was deemed by industry stakeholders as yet another sign of confidence in the venture’s ability to successfully build and launch rockets.
Investor confidence grows
Skyroot's steady progress in building its own rocket from scratch, coupled with growing momentum in the global private space industry that saw Elon Musk’s SpaceX hit a valuation of $1 trillion earlier this month.
"Good and great investors are increasingly recognizing space technology as a major emerging sector in India. It holds strong sovereign and strategic importance for the country and offers significant potential for scale," said Shashank Randev, founder and general partner at 247VC, an early-stage deeptech-focused venture capital investor. “Globally, spacetech companies have already gained substantial investor recognition, and in India, companies such as Skyroot Aerospace demonstrate the sector's potential.”
However, the small-ticket investment is likely strategic in nature. Anil Joshi, managing partner at Unicorn India Venture, said the ₹10 crore of cumulative funding by the two Swiggy cofounders “likely considers the company's maturity to acquire a targeted percentage of shareholding.”
Randev said the investment “is significant”. “Angel investors typically do not invest more than ₹2-3 crore. The investment is less about the check size and more about gaining exposure to a fast-growing company that has already achieved a higher valuation.”
Skyroot Aerospace has yet to generate operating revenue since its commercial launch has not taken place. On 2 June, an Entrackr report said Skyroot’s provisional FY26 financials projected operating revenue of ₹100.6 crore—potentially based on early-stage deals with commercial satellite clients.
