Skyroot Aerospace

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Rockets. orbital-class

Vikram-1 reaches low Earth orbit/ 2026

Swati.Bharadwaj, July 19, 2026: The Times of India

Sriharikota : A sudden hold in the final five minutes of the countdown briefly froze the celebration waiting to erupt at Sriharikota. Then, after a tense 35-minute delay and a restart of the launch sequence, Skyroot Aerospace’s Vikram-1 roared off the first launchpad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre here at 12.05 pm Saturday, becoming India’s first privately developed orbital-class rocket to reach low Earth orbit.

Skyroot Aerospace’s maiden orbital mission, named Mission Aagaman, not only successfully placed its six payloads into the targeted 450-km low Earth orbit at an inclination of 60 degrees, it made India the third country to achieve orbital launch capability through private enterprise. It was also a historic moment for the Hyderabad-based startup founded by former Isro scientists Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka. 


The company enters an ultra-exclusive club of public sector and private sector entities globally to get a rocket launch right in the first attempt. 


For India, the launch represents a major step in the transition from a govt-led space programme to a broader ecosystem in which private companies design, build and operate launch vehicles. The milestone has come exactly 46 years after Isro’s SLV-3E2 placed the Rohini satellite RS-1 into orbit on July 18, 1980, making India the sixth nation capable of independently launching satellites.

Like SLV-3, Vikram-1 stands 22m tall, but its success signals a new era: the arrival of private Indian industry in orbital launch operations from Sriharikota. For Chandana, company co-founder, the launch was an emotional milestone. “In the first attempt, reaching orbit, I never thought it was possible. The Skyroot team made it possible,” he said.

YEAR-WISE DEVELOPMENTS

2026: a unicorn

Swati Bharadwaj & Asmita Dey TNN, May 8, 2026: The Times of India

Hyderabad/ Mumbai: Skyroot Aerospace, which is gearing up to launch India’s first private orbital rocket Vikram-1 into space, has become India’s first spacetech unicorn, with its latest funding round of around $60 million (Rs 568 crore) for a valuation of $1.1 billion. 
With its second pre-series C funding round, Skyroot also becomes Hyderabad’s second true blue unicorn after HR tech startup Darwinbox, which achieved this status in early 2022. 


The round was led by existing investors Sherpalo Ventures and GIC with participation from new investors like Blackrock managed funds, Playbook Partners and Shanghvi family office and existing ones like Greenko group founders and Arkam Ventures, among others. 
With this latest round, Sherpalo founder Ram Shriram, who is one of the early investors in Skyroot and is also on the board of Alphabet Inc, will be joining the Skyroot board. With this, the total funding raised by Skyroot has hit $160 million (Rs 1,515 crore). The latest funding round will help Skyroot achieve its target of one rocket per month from its new Infinity campus in Hyderabad.


The fresh capital will be used to ramp up its manufacturing capacities, invest in machinery and testing facilities to help more launches, co-founder & CEO Pawan Kumar Chandana told TOI in an interview. 


“We have received interest from customers across the globe especially from the US, Europe and South East Asia,” Chandana said. 
 As part of its orbital launch ambitions, Skyroot is planning two to three rocket test launches before commercial operations begin next year, Chandana said.

“We are excited about the upcoming Vikram-1 launch, India’s first private orbital rocket, marking a significant milestone both for India and the global space sector. This investment signals confidence from some of the world’s reputed investors,” Chandana added. 


The company is also looking to develop Vikram-2 — a one-tonne class vehicle with an advanced cryogenic upper stage. The company became India’s first private company to send a rocket to space when its successfully launched sub-orbital rocket — Vikram-S — in Nov 2022. 
Skyroot is in a pre-revenue stage now but will start making money later this year as commercial launches start kicking in, said Chandana.

See also

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)

Space research, technology: India

Skyroot Aerospace