Hyderabad-based spacetech startup Skyroot Aerospace on October 30 announced that it has raised $27.5 million in a pre-series C funding round led by Temasek, highlighting the growing value of the Indian space tech ecosystem amid the so-called funding winter.
This brings launch vehicle maker Skyroot's funding corpus to $95 million, which it claims to be the largest for an Indian space-tech startup. In comparison, Pixxel has till now raised a total venture funding of $71 million, and Agnikul Cosmos to $40 million.
Skyroot plans to utilise these funds to drive its aim of entering the global satellite launch services market with multiple orbital launches planned over the next two years.
The startup is planning increased investments in infrastructure, reinforcement of its technology leadership, attraction of top-tier talent, and the enhancement of its launch frequency and capabilities, a statement by the company said.
Skyroot Aerospace, headquartered in Hyderabad was founded in 2018 by space scientists-turned-entrepreneurs, Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka.
In November 2022, it successfully launched India's first privately developed rocket, marking Indian private space sector's entry into the space launch market.
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The company claims to offer "on-demand, cost-effective" regular space launch services to the fast-expanding global small and medium-sized satellite market, with satellite operators who look to deploy single or constellations of satellites across orbits as its customers.
Pawan Kumar Chandana, the Co-founder and CEO of Skyroot said, "As we prepare for the launch of our second mission early next year, this new funding will enable us to accelerate our upcoming launches planned over the next two years."
"As a key player in India's private space industry, we are amplifying our capabilities to tap into the expanding global satellite launch market with a goal to emerge as a favourite ‘go-to’ choice in space launch services for small satellites," he added.
Bharath Daka, the Co-founder and COO of Skyroot, said, "This fund-raise will help us to invest in the enhancement of our production infrastructure, R&D and team strength that will enable us to achieve higher launch cadence in the years to come."
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