India's Skyroot Aerospace has become the country's first space 'unicorn' after raising $60 million in a new funding round. The company's market valuation has reached $1.1 billion. The funding round was led by US-based Sherpalo Ventures and Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC. This is reported by Ixbt.com .
The company's flagship project is the Vikram-1 light-lift launch vehicle. This rocket is capable of carrying up to 350 kg into low Earth orbit and up to 260 kg into sun-synchronous orbit. The rocket has currently been delivered to India's Satish Dhawan Space Centre and is expected to make its maiden flight in the coming weeks.
Following the successful funding, Skyroot plans to expand its production capacity and develop the more powerful Vikram-2 rocket. This new vehicle is capable of carrying payloads of up to 900 kg into orbit, with its first flight scheduled for 2027.
Company co-founder Pavan Kumar Chandana emphasized that this step is a significant milestone not only for India but for the global space industry. In recent years, the Indian government has focused heavily on liberalizing the space sector and promoting private commercial space services.
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