Skyroot Aerospace raises $4.5 Mn in bridge round

Spacetech startup Skyroot Aerospace has raised $4.5 million (about Rs 34 crore) in a bridge round to Series B funding led by Google's founding board member Ram Shriram's Sherpalo Ventures. Wami Capital, existing investors - former WhatsApp chief business officer Neeraj Arora and ex-Google executive Amit Singhal have also participated.

The current round takes the startup’s total funding to $17 million.

The proceeds will be used to build the infrastructure required to launch space vehicles. It expects to launch a space vehicle this year, said Skyroot in a press release.

Founded by former ISRO scientists Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka in 2018, Skyroot is the first Indian private aerospace company to successfully test a fully cryogenic rocket engine named Dhawan-1 in honour of eminent Indian scientist Satish Dhawan.

Hyderabad-based Skyroot claims that it will probably be the cheapest satellite launch vehicle in the world.

Skyroot had closed $11 million in its Series-A in May last year.