As India’s space tech funding reached a record $200 million in 2025, Bengaluru has emerged the ecosystem leader attracting more than half of the ecosystem funding, shows a new report by market research firm Tracxn.

According to the report, the sector has raised approximately $871 million in funding as of July 2026. The top 10 most-funded companies alone account for over 60% of this total, led by India’s first Space Tech unicorn, Skyroot Aerospace, at $150M. Skyroot built Vikram-1, India’s first privately developed orbital-class rocket, which successfully reached low Earth orbit on July 18.

Upward trend

The report titled ‘Space Tech in India’ maps 285 companies currently in the Indian space tech ecosystem, with 274 remaining active. Out of these 72 have received equity funding.

From $43 million in 2021 to $200 million in 2025, the sector has seen a steady rise in funding in the last five years. In 2026 till date, the startups have raised $113 million across 24 rounds so far.

Seed-stage funding increased from $7 million in 2022 to $62 million in 2025, while late-stage funding emerged for the first time, reaching $17 million in 2025 and $53 million in 2026 YTD. This signals that a subset of companies is transitioning from the development stage to pre-commercial operations, adding more depth to the sector than just volume, the report notes.

The investor base has also expanded from domestic venture capital firms and angel investors to sovereign wealth funds and global institutional investors.

Scale attracts capital

However, the increase in funding during 2025–26 has been driven by a small number of large rounds rather than a broad-based rise in deal activity, the report points out.

The five largest rounds during this period included Skyroot’s $50 million Series C in May 2026, Digantara’s $50 million Series B in December 2025, EtherealX’s $21 million Series A in December 2025, Bellatrix Aerospace’s $20 million Series A in March 2026, and AgniKul’s $17 million Series C in November 2025. The report shows how, collectively, these rounds accounted for $158 million, representing over half of the capital deployed across 2025–26.

“Skyroot raised funding following Vikram-1’s ground qualification, Digantara after securing its first space situational awareness data contracts, and AgniKul after its successful sub-orbital test flight from India’s first private launchpad. The funding pattern suggests that capital is increasingly being deployed against demonstrated execution rather than future potential,” it notes.

Diversification supported by reforms

The top 10 funded companies collectively raised over $548 million across the value chain, spanning launch vehicles, earth observation and imaging, propulsion, space situational awareness, satellite platforms, and communications.

“This diversification has been supported by the 2020 space sector reforms, which enabled private participation across the value chain, and ISRO’s technology transfer framework, which provided startups with access to technologies, test facilities, and mission expertise that would have been difficult to develop independently,” the report observes.

Bengaluru tops the chart

The funding, however, has remained concentrated in a few cities. Bengaluru continues to be the ecosystem leader with $495 million raised across 106 rounds so far. This accounts for 57% of total sector funding.

Seven of the top 10 funded space tech companies are headquartered in the city. Pixxel, the largest funded space tech company in Bengaluru, accounts for nearly 19% of the city’s total.

Bengaluru is followed by Hyderabad, which has attracted $205 million across 37 rounds, and Chennai which has raised $80 million across 20 rounds.

“Outside these three cities, funding remains limited,” the report notes.

Consolidation in days to come

What is noteworthy is that only 10 of the 285 companies in the sector have raised more than $15 million. While 72 of the 285 companies are funded, the remaining majority remain unfunded in a highly capital-intensive sector marked by long development cycles, the report points out.

“Over the next 12–18 months, the sector is likely to mirror the consolidation wave seen in India’s fintech industry during 2023–24 with mergers, pivots, and closures among companies unable to secure follow-on funding,” the report adds.

Published – July 28, 2026 03:17 pm IST

Private rocket Vikram-1 carrying tech payloads and special postcards lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota on Saturday (July 18, 2026).

Earlier, the launch was put on hold temporarily. A new schedule was announced, and the rocket was launched at 12.05 p.m.

Skyroot’s Vikram-1, India’s first private orbital rocket to be launched on July 18

India’s first privately developed orbital rocket is ready to blast off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
Developed by Skyroot, a private aerospace company, Vikram-1 has been named after India’s pioneering space scientist Vikram Sarabhai.This will be the first time an orbital-class rocket, fully designed and developed by a private player, will attempt to fly from Indian soil.The Mission Aagaman launch marks the arrival of India’s private sector in the global launch business.
Vikram-1 is a multi-stage orbital launch vehicle built with an all-carbon-composite structure.
It is powered by in-house developed propulsion systems, including 3D-printed engines and high-thrust solid-fuel rocket boosters, and is designed to carry small satellites weighing up to 350 kg to Low Earth Orbit.
The test flight is meant to see how the technology developed by Skyroot Aerospace performs in real-world conditions.
The in-flight data gathered from this mission will be used by the company to learn, improve, and build further.
| Video Credit:
Businessline

The rocket was developed by Skyroot Aerospace. Five minutes before the earlier scheduled lift-off, Skyroot Aerospace announced that there is a ‘planned hold’.

Around 10 minutes before the scheduled launch, the Vikram-1 had begun its Automated Launch Sequence. From here, the onboard software runs the countdown — monitoring every system and clearing each checkpoint on its own, all the way to ignition. However, five minutes before the lift off, the launch was put on hold.

Later, the Automated Launch Sequence (ALS) was restarted, and the lift-off was re-scheduled at 12.05 p.m.

Private enterprise

Developed by private space launch company Skyroot Aerospace, Vikram-1 is a seven-storey-tall, multi-stage orbital launch vehicle built with an all-carbon composite structure and powered by in-house developed propulsion systems, including 3D-printed engines and high-thrust solid-fuel rocket boosters.

Designed to carry small satellites weighing up to 350 kg to Low Earth Orbit (LEO), its first test flight is targeting a 450-km orbit at a 60° inclination. Vikram-1 will carry six technology demonstration payloads from Grahaa Space, Cosmoserve, DCubed and Skyroot’s own SCOPE, along with Cosmos Diamonds’ artwork “Cosmic Bloom”, and a micro-art piece.

Skyroot Aerospace said that the decks for the launch had been cleared with the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) — the government agency to promote, permit, and oversee private-sector space activities — granting launch authorisation.

Skyroot said all stages of Vikram-1 have been successfully integrated and stacked on the launch pad. Following this, the final integrated checks of the vehicle on the launch pad from Skyroot’s launch control centre have been completed, along with the interface checks with all telemetry ground stations and tracking radars.

“We have done everything to test Vikram-1 on the ground. On July 18, we are eager to see how Vikram-1 performs in a real flight environment for the first time. This is our first test flight, and we will be getting valuable data from it. This will be foundational to Skyroot’s aspirations to establish launch cadence. We are excited to see this through,” said Pawan Kumar Chandana, co-founder and CEO of Skyroot Aerospace.

Details of mission

The primary objective of Vikram-1’s first test flight, named Mission Aagaman, is to achieve a successful lift-off, safe clearance of the tower, and gather maximum data throughout the ascent.

The Vikram-1’s flight sequence from lift off to orbit injection will cover 14 phases and the total duration of the flight will be 15.46 minutes.

Skyroot Aerospace said that Mission Aagaman, meaning ‘the arrival’, marks its second mission following the successful suborbital flight of Vikram-S, the first private rocket to reach space from Indian soil, on November 18, 2022.

The Hyderabad based company said that this will be a partially commercial flight, with the company planning to commence full commercial flights after one or two successful demonstrations to orbit.

Built with an all-carbon composite structure and powered by in-house developed solid and liquid propulsion systems, including 3D-printed engines, the Vikram-1 is engineered for rapid manufacturing and high launch cadence. The flight-ready rocket was unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November 2025.

Stats about Vikram-1 and Mission Agyaman

• Height: 22 metres

• Diameter: 1.7 metres

• Design Capacity: Up to 350 kgs to Low Earth Orbit

• Configuration: Three solid stages and a liquid Orbital Adjustment Module  

Payload

• Embrace by Cosmoserve Space

• Solaras Satellite  by Grahaa Space

• Scope Satellite by Skyroot Aerospace

• uD3PP and mD3RN by Germany’s Dcubed

• Cosmic Bloom by Cosmos Diamonds

• Micro Art Tribute by Ajay Kumar Mattewada

Many firsts

• Vikram-1 is the country’s first privately developed orbital launch vehicle

• Vikram-1 is India’s first all carbon composite orbital rocket

• Vikram-1 is India’s first 100% 3D-printed engine on an orbital vehicle

• Vikram-1 is India’s longest monolithic carbon-composite rocket stage

• First of its kind ultra-low-shock pneumatic separation systems

Historic event

This launch of Vikram-1 comes 46 years after India launched its first experimental Satellite Launch Vehicle-3 (SLV-3).

On July 18, 1980, India became the sixth member of an exclusive club of spacefaring nations when the SLV-3 was successfully launched from the same venue, placing the Rohini Satellite (RS-1) into orbit.

A handwritten postcard from Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also travel to space on Vikram-1, along with hundreds of cards from well-wishers across the world.

Published – July 18, 2026 11:48 am IST

The launch of Vikram-1, India’s first privately developed orbital-class rocket, which was scheduled to lift off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota on July 18 at 11.30 am, was put on hold temporarily. A new schedule was announced, and the rocket will be launched at 12.05 PM.

Skyroot’s Vikram-1, India’s first private orbital rocket to be launched on July 18

India’s first privately developed orbital rocket is ready to blast off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
Developed by Skyroot, a private aerospace company, Vikram-1 has been named after India’s pioneering space scientist Vikram Sarabhai.This will be the first time an orbital-class rocket, fully designed and developed by a private player, will attempt to fly from Indian soil.The Mission Aagaman launch marks the arrival of India’s private sector in the global launch business.
Vikram-1 is a multi-stage orbital launch vehicle built with an all-carbon-composite structure.
It is powered by in-house developed propulsion systems, including 3D-printed engines and high-thrust solid-fuel rocket boosters, and is designed to carry small satellites weighing up to 350 kg to Low Earth Orbit.
The test flight is meant to see how the technology developed by Skyroot Aerospace performs in real-world conditions.
The in-flight data gathered from this mission will be used by the company to learn, improve, and build further.
| Video Credit:
Businessline

The rocket was developed by Skyroot Aerospace. Five minutes before lift-off, Skyroot Aerospace announced that there is a ‘planned hold’.

Around 10 minutes before the scheduled launch, the Vikram-1 had begun its Automated Launch Sequence. From here, the onboard software runs the countdown — monitoring every system and clearing each checkpoint on its own, all the way to ignition. However, five minutes before the lift off, the launch was put on hold.

Later, the Automated Launch Sequence (ALS) was restarted, and the lift-off was re-scheduled at 12.05 p.m.

Private enterprise

Developed by private space launch company Skyroot Aerospace, Vikram-1 is a seven-storey-tall, multi-stage orbital launch vehicle built with an all-carbon composite structure and powered by in-house developed propulsion systems, including 3D-printed engines and high-thrust solid-fuel rocket boosters.

Designed to carry small satellites weighing up to 350 kg to Low Earth Orbit (LEO), its first test flight is targeting a 450-km orbit at a 60° inclination. Vikram-1 will carry six technology demonstration payloads from Grahaa Space, Cosmoserve, DCubed and Skyroot’s own SCOPE, along with Cosmos Diamonds’ artwork “Cosmic Bloom”, and a micro-art piece.

Skyroot Aerospace said that the decks for the launch had been cleared with the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) — the government agency to promote, permit, and oversee private-sector space activities — granting launch authorisation.

Skyroot said all stages of Vikram-1 have been successfully integrated and stacked on the launch pad. Following this, the final integrated checks of the vehicle on the launch pad from Skyroot’s launch control centre have been completed, along with the interface checks with all telemetry ground stations and tracking radars.

“We have done everything to test Vikram-1 on the ground. On July 18, we are eager to see how Vikram-1 performs in a real flight environment for the first time. This is our first test flight, and we will be getting valuable data from it. This will be foundational to Skyroot’s aspirations to establish launch cadence. We are excited to see this through,” said Pawan Kumar Chandana, co-founder and CEO of Skyroot Aerospace.

Historic event

This launch of Vikram-1 comes 46 years after India launched its first experimental Satellite Launch Vehicle-3 (SLV-3).

On July 18, 1980, India became the sixth member of an exclusive club of spacefaring nations when the SLV-3 was successfully launched from the same venue, placing the Rohini Satellite (RS-1) into orbit.

A handwritten postcard from Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also travel to space on Vikram-1, along with hundreds of cards from well-wishers across the world.

Published – July 18, 2026 11:48 am IST

India’s first privately developed orbital-class rocket Vikram-1 at the first launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
| Photo Credit: Special arrangement