Indian space tech startup Skyroot Aerospace raises $51 million in GIC-led funding round

• Skyroot is developing India’s first privately developed space launch vehicle.
  
• Skyroot’s marquee investors include Myntra and CultFit founder Mukesh Bansal, Greenko Group founders – Anil Chalamalasetty and Mahesh Kolli, and Google board member Ram Shriram’s Sherpalo Ventures.
  
• The Indian-tech startup has an MoU with the Indian Space Research Organisation for sharing facilities and expertise.

Skyroot Aerospace, a four-year-old space tech startup, has raised $51 million in a Series-B financing round. The company claims this is the biggest funding round ever in the Indian space-tech sector.

The funding round was led by GIC, a leading global investment firm headquartered in Singapore.

Skyroot will use the funds to expand its space engineering team, which currently has close to 200 employees.

The funding would also help the company get to full-fledged commercial satellite launch scale within a year from now, said Naga Bharath Daka, co-founder and COO of Skyroot. It has started booking payload slots for its upcoming launches, he added.

Skyroot said it is developing India’s first privately developed space launch vehicle, named after the founder of India’s space program, Dr. Vikram Sarabhai. The Vikram Series rockets are built with an all-carbon-fibre structure, and can launch upto 800 kg of payloads to Low Earth Orbit (LEO), the company said.

Skyroot is the first startup to sign an MoU with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for sharing facilities and expertise.

“Our objective is to establish ourselves as a provider of best-in-class rocket launch services and the go-to destination for affordable and reliable small satellite launches.” said Pawan Kumar Chandana, co-founder and CEO of Skyroot.

Rothschild & Co India were the financial advisors for this funding round.

Skyroot’s investors include Myntra and CultFit founder Mukesh Bansal, Greenko Group founders – Anil Chalamalasetty & Mahesh Kolli, Solar Industries India Limited, Google board member Ram Shriram’s Sherpalo Ventures, Neeraj Arora (Former-WhatsApp Global Business Chief) and Wami Capital.

Mayank Rawat, managing director of GIC India Direct Investment Group, will be joining Skyroot’s board.

According to a report, the global space launch services market is projected to grow from $14.21 billion in 2022 to $31.90 billion by 2029, at a CAGR of 12.25%.

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