One of the startups engaged in space launch vehicles has recently raised $11 million in Series A funding.
The funding round was led by Greenko founders Anil Chalamaleasetty and Mahesh in Kolli. The investment saw participation from other publicly listed Solar Group, a major space and Defence supplier, and Neeraj Arora- the former WhatsApp CBO. On the other hand the existing investors include the founder of Myntra and Cure fit Mukesh Bansal, Worldquant Ventures, Graph Ventures, Sutton Capital, Vedanshu Investments, and a few angel investors.
Skyroot Aerospace- About
It is an Indian Private aerospace manufacturer and commercial launch service provider located in Hyderabad, Telangana. It was founded by former engineers and scientists from ISRO, DRDO, and several aerospace companies. It aims to develop and launch its series of small lift launch vehicles.
The firm has been developing its first vehicle, the Vikram-I. And it is on track for its initial launch around December 2021. Last year in August Skyroot first came into the light when it first fired the Raman-I solid-fuel upper stage named after C.V. Raman.
On 2 February 2021, ISRO and Skyroot Aerospace signed an NDA. it will allow the company to access the facilities and technical expertise in ISRO centers to develop their launch vehicles seamlessly.
Later in the same month, it came into partnership with Bellatrix Aerospace to use the Orbital Transfer of the partnered firm with their Vikram series of vehicles- (Vikram- I II III)
The Joining Directors
Anil, Mahesh, and Solar Group will be joining the company as Board of Directors. The joint statement was released by Anil and Mahesh and it said- “We believe Skyroot is a strong emerging player in the global Space industry and we are excited to partner with them on their mission to democratize space access. Skyroot is building the infrastructure which will help develop new opportunities for innovation in the space ecosystem and offer unique ways to improve the quality of life on earth. The next-generation technology Skyroot is building will unlock potential for sustainability interventions, space-based research, data analytics, and telecommunications. We are confident our partnership will help them accelerate towards being a leading Space launch player globally.”
In June 2018, it nabbed around a $1.5 million seed round from Mukesh Bansal (Founder of Myntra and CureFit).
Lastly, the COO and Co-founder of the company said- “This round adds more fuel to our rocket program and will support in completing development and testing of all subsystems of our first launch vehicle Vikram-1 and strengthening our world-class team. We started bookings for launches starting from the mid-next year and are actively engaging global customers. We intend to raise $40 million more to fund our aggressive growth plans over the next few years”
