# Skyroot Aerospace has raised $11 million in its series A round of funding.

*aerospace · news · 2021-05-20 · Business Insider India*

## Key points

- Skyroot Aerospace raised $11 million in Series A, nearly 10 times its 2018 funding.
- Greenko Group founders now join Skyroot's board following their lead investment.
- Skyroot plans its first commercial rocket launch by mid-2022 using the Vikram-1.
- Agnikul Cosmos test-fired the world's first 3D printed rocket engine, Agnilet, earlier this year.
- Indian government sector opening has enabled record Series A investments for both startups.

Skyroot Aerospace has raised $11 million in its series A round of funding. The space startup founded by two former ISRO scientists is already taking launch bookings for next year. It plans to have its first commercial mission off the ground mid-2022. Advertisement Space Startup Latest funding Amount Pixxel March 2021 $7.3 million Agnikul Cosmos May 2021 $11 million Skyroot Aerospace May 2021 $ 11million Space technology startups are the next big bet for venture capitalists in India Advertisement Advertisement Indian space startup Skyroot Aerospace has raised $11 million in its series A round of funding. This is nearly 10 times the $1.5 million the rocket building entrepreneurs, Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka, raised in 2018.“We intend to raise $40 million more to fund our aggressive growth plans over the next few years,” said Daka, co-founder and chief operating officer (COO) of the Hyderabad-based company. The series A amount will be used for its rocket programme and getting their flagship vehicle, Vikram-1, off the ground.However, Skyroot Aerospace is not the only space startup raking in fresh funding. Chennai-based Agnikul Cosmos also raised $11 million in their Series A round of funding — the largest investment in the space startup scene for both of them after the Indian government opened up the sector to private participation less than a year ago.According to Chandana, Skyroot Aerospace’s announcement was long pending but the team was waiting for the COVID-19 situation to become comparatively better. "We had more time for design which helped in optimising our vehicle and resulted in significant cost and time savings," he told Business Insider.Skyroot Aerospace’s Series A was led by Greenko Group founders Anil Kumar Chalamalasetty and Mahesh Kolli. Both of them will now also be on the startup’s board of directors along with Solar Group, a major space and defence supplier. Other notable investors also include former WhatsApp global business chief Neeraj Arora, Myntra and CureFit founder Mukesh Bansal — who is also the original investor from 2018 — Graph Ventures, and Worldquant Ventures.The COVID-19 pandemic and the associated lockdowns were an issue for Agnikul Cosmos. “Due to the COVID-19 situation, there have been a few delays but we are looking to launch our first mission in the second half of next year,” said Srinath Ravichandran, co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Agnikul Cosmos.The startup test-fired the world’s first 3D printed rocket engine Agnilet earlier this year. And it plans on conducting more such tests later this year.Its series A round of funding was led by Mayfield India. Angel investors including Anand Mahindra, Naval Ravikant, Nithin Kamath and Balaji Srinivasan also threw their hat in the ring.The startup had raised $3.1 million in March 2020 in its pre-Series A round of funding.

**Companies:** Skyroot Aerospace, Agnikul Cosmos
**Countries:** India

[Read the full story on Business Insider India](https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/skyroot-aerospace-raises-11-million-in-funding-with-plans-to-have-vikram-1-on-the-launch-pad-by-mid-2022/articleshow/82788901.cms)

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