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The Indian Navy wants Skyroot to help build space capabilities for the armed forces. And some of Silicon Valley’s biggest investors could soon put nearly $300 million into the company.
First, follow the money: Skyroot is reportedly in advanced talks to raise roughly ₹2,600-2,850 crore, from Fidelity, General Catalyst and Benchmark.
The talks could value the company at around $2.8-3 billion. That's a huge jump considering the company raised $60 million in May at a valuation of around $1.1 billion.
Fidelity could reportedly invest $170-190 million, General Catalyst around $70-80 million, and Benchmark another $20-30 million. Existing investors including GIC, BlackRock and Sherpalo Ventures may also participate. The deal isn't final yet, so the size and investor mix could still change. Moneycontrol
There's another interesting bit: this could be Benchmark's first direct investment in India. The Silicon Valley VC was an early backer of companies such as Uber, Twitter and Snap. Moneycontrol
Quick context: Skyroot became India's first space-tech unicorn earlier this year. Then in July, Vikram-1 became India's first privately developed orbital launch vehicle to successfully launch, turning Skyroot from a promising rocket startup into a company with a demonstrated orbital launch capability.
Invite from Navy: on Sunday, Indian Navy Chief Admiral Krishna Swaminathan at an NDTV event invited Skyroot to work on developing space capabilities for India's armed forces.
Modern warfare increasingly depends on space for things like satellite communication, surveillance, navigation and tracking. The Navy Chief said technologies including AI, quantum technology, autonomous systems and space are changing how naval warfare works.
That potentially gives private space companies such as Skyroot another major customer base beyond commercial satellite operators: India's defence forces.
Importantly, this is an invitation to work on capabilities, not a defence contract or order for Skyroot yet.
Zoom out: for decades, India's space programme was overwhelmingly government-led through ISRO. That has been changing as India opened more of the sector to private companies.
And now India's military is publicly asking the company to think beyond commercial launches.
So Skyroot's next chapter may not simply be about putting satellites into orbit. It could also be about helping India build the space infrastructure it increasingly sees as important for defence.
