Six years after privatising space, India has a unicorn, orbital launcher and $871 million in startup funding
BENGALURU: India’s private space sector has reached a new stage six years after the government opened the industry to private participation, with the country now home to its first SpaceTech unicorn, a privately developed orbital launch vehicle and startups that have collectively raised about $871 million in equity funding.
According to a report by Tracxn, India’s SpaceTech ecosystem has raised $871 million across 241 funding rounds as of July 2026. The sector includes 285 companies, of which 274 remain active, while 72 have secured institutional equity funding across areas including launch vehicles, satellite manufacturing, propulsion systems, earth observation, space situational awareness and downstream analytics.
This comes days after Skyroot Aerospace’s Vikram-1 reached a 450-kilometre low Earth orbit on July 18, deploying four payloads, including technology demonstrations from Grahaa Space, Cosmoserve, DCubed and Skyroot’s SCOPE satellite. The mission made India the third country after the US and China to achieve a privately developed orbital launch capability.
The launch marks the outcome of policy changes introduced in 2020, when India opened its space sector to private companies. Skyroot plans another test flight later in 2026 before beginning commercial launch operations in 2027.
