When people think of space-tech companies, names like Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin often come to mind. But India now has its own space-tech unicorn in Skyroot Aerospace, the company behind last week's Vikram-1 launch. Interestingly, the startup also has an unexpected connection with Haldiram's.
Founded in 2018, Skyroot Aerospace has raised around $160 million across multiple funding rounds, according to reports. One of those rounds saw Indian food giant Haldiram's invest in the company.
Yes, the same Haldiram's known for its restaurants and snacks owns a stake in a company building rockets for space missions. According to Tracxn, Haldiram's participated in Skyroot Aerospace's Series B funding round in January 2022, although the size of its investment has not been disclosed.
The link surprised many users on X, with one describing it as a crossover they never expected.
Haldiram's is not the only Indian investor backing Skyroot. Billionaire Lakshmi Niwas Mittal has also invested in the company through his venture capital firm, LNM India Internet Ventures.
Other investors include private equity firms BlackRock and Singapore's GIC. Skyroot Aerospace is currently valued at $1.1 billion.
What is Skyroot Aerospace?
Skyroot Aerospace is a space-tech startup founded by former ISRO scientists Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka. The company is focused on providing commercial satellite launch services and plans to begin commercial operations as early as next year. Its business model is similar to the satellite launch services offered by Elon Musk's SpaceX.
On Saturday, July 18, Skyroot successfully launched a test rocket carrying a 350-kilogram payload into low Earth orbit, becoming the first private Indian company to achieve orbital launch capability.
The company is targeting the market for payloads weighing under 1,000 kilograms, where it will compete with US-based companies such as Rocket Lab, Firefly Aerospace and Astra Space, along with Chinese firms including i-Space, Galactic Energy and CAS Space.
Unlike larger launch providers that often place payloads into approximate orbital positions, Skyroot aims to deliver a customer's satellite directly into its intended orbit. This reduces the need for satellite operators to use their own onboard fuel and time to manoeuvre the spacecraft into position.
The market for such launch services is currently estimated at around $5 billion and is expected to expand rapidly as satellite deployments continue to grow. In May this year, US-based Rocket Lab said its order backlog had more than doubled year-on-year to $2.2 billion, with launches already booked through 2029. The company currently has a market capitalisation of more than $43 billion.
