bengaluru, May 8 -- Skyroot Aerospace has secured $60 million in capital at a pre-money valuation of $1.1 billion, pushing the Hyderabad-based launch vehicle startup into unicorn area and displaying the investor confidence in India's privately-owned space sector. The round was co-led by GIC, Singapore's state-owned sovereign wealth fund, and Sherpalo Ventures, the firm run by Ram Shriram, an early Google investor and a Silicon Valley figure. Shriram will join Skyroot's board, showing his strong commitment to the venture. "I've believed in the Skyroot team since the early days, and that conviction has only deepened as the team marches forward to the launchpad with Vikram-1, India's first private orbital-class rocket," he said in a statement. "Skyroot is building the foundational infrastructure for that future with the best cost-to-performance ratio in the orbital-launch industry, and what the team has achieved is remarkable." Last week, Skyroot flagged off Vikram-1's flight hardware from Hyderabad, marking the rocket's formal departure for the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. The raise has doubled Skyroot's valuation from the $550 million it commanded three years ago and arrives at a crucial moment-when the company nears the launching of Vikram-1, which would become the first orbital-class rocket built and flown by a private Indian company. This would bring India into a club of nations with privately developed orbital launch capabilities. The funding indicates the increase in Indian spacetech investment. Venture capital flows into the sector hit $276 million across 33 deals in 2025, more than the total of the previous two years, as investors move beyond launch vehicles into earth observation, space domain awareness, and in-orbit services. New investors on the company's captable include the Greenko Group's founders, the Shanghvi Family Office and Playbook Partners. Existing investors in the company include Arkam Ventures and BlackRock....