Karthik Sajikumar

Excited to share that Skyroot Aerospace has now entered the Unicorn Club, becoming India’s first space-tech unicorn—ahead of our maiden Vikram-1 launch. While this milestone reflects strong investor confidence and growth, for me—as an HR leader—it represents something far deeper. It is a story of: • Building and scaling talent in one of the most complex and mission-critical industries • Enabling a culture of ownership, resilience, and bold ambition • Supporting a fast-growing organization as it transitions to the global stage Having joined Skyroot in 2025, it has been an incredibly energizing journey to witness—and contribute to—this phase of rapid acceleration and value creation. Grateful to our existing and incoming global investors—GIC, Temasek, BlackRock, and others—for their trust in Skyroot’s vision to build a truly global space company. As we now move closer to Vikram-1 and the next phase of growth, one thing stands out clearly: this milestone belongs to the people powering it every day. And we are just getting started. #Skyroot #Unicorn #PeopleAndCulture #Leadership #SpaceTech #IndiaToOrbit

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Axirium Aerospace, a precision aerospace component manufacturer, has successfully raised $3.5 million in seed funding led by Shastra VC and BEENEXT. The round also attracted notable angel investors including Ashish Gupta, former MD and Co-founder of Helion Advisors, and PVS Raju, Vice Chairman of AIG Hospitals. Founded in 2025 by industry veterans Nishant Khurana (CEO), Neeraj Agarwal (CBO), and Piyush Agarwal (CCO), the founding team brings over 15 years of domain excellence from their experience at TASL. Axirium specializes in precision machining, sheet metal fabrication, tubing, and structural sub assemblies, supported by digital manufacturing and lean operational principles. The capital will be strategically deployed to enhance precision manufacturing capabilities, expand engineering, quality, and operations teams, establish production facilities, strengthen supplier networks, and expand global customer reach. This investment positions the company to capitalize on India's expanding role in global aerospace supply chains while preparing for strategic Tier 1 and Tier 2 partnerships. Read more:https://lnkd.in/eZhC_w_r Follow Startupstag for the latest updates on Indian and International startups #AerospaceIndustry #StartupFunding #SeedRound #AxiriumAerospace #ShastraVC #BEENEXT #PrecisionManufacturing #AerospaceTechnology #IndianStartups #MakeInIndia #AdvancedManufacturing #AerospaceEngineering #StartupIndia #VentureCapital #SupplyChain #DefenseManufacturing #EngineeringExcellence

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Aviation and aerospace startups, watch out for the very promising phase in the sector. Electric aircraft market is going to be big in the coming 10 years.

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Astrophel Aerospace, a homegrown deeptech space startup, has raised Rs 6.84 crore in a pre-seed funding round led by a syndicate of angel investors and early-stage venture firms. Founded in 2022 by Suyash Bafna Astrophel is among a handful of Indian private firms to have successfully test-fired a semi-cryogenic engine. The startup plans to use the newly raised capital to expand its R&D team and scale manufacturing capabilities to build and test a working prototype of its reusable launch vehicle within the next 24 to 36 months. #venturecapital #investment #funding

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#FrontPageLIVE 🔴 Skyroot Aerospace just hit a $1.1 billion valuation after a $60 million round led by GIC and Sherpalo Ventures, LLC, becoming India's first space-tech unicorn ahead of the Vikram-1 orbital launch. CM Nara Chandrababu Naidu has greenlit a massive ₹2.13 lakh crore investment surge in Andhra Pradesh led by Reliance Industries Limited's ₹1 trillion data project targeting 39,000 jobs, and India is fast-tracking a $500 million defence line to Vietnam covering warships, submarine tech, and BrahMos talks alongside UPI and rare earth linkages. On the global front, Anthropic has signed a major compute deal with SpaceX AI days after Elon Musk mocked Claude as woke, NVIDIA and OpenAI have open-sourced MRC, a next-generation AI networking protocol already running on Blackwell supercomputers, and Google has killed Project Mariner to consolidate its browser agent capabilities into Gemini 3 ahead of Google I/O. Catch all of this live today on AIM Front Page: https://lnkd.in/gm4h2tev #FrontPageLIVE #AIMNetwork #SkyrootAerospace #AndhraPradesh #Anthropic #OpenAI #IndiaAI

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Aerospace component manufacturing company Axirium Aerospace has secured $3.5 million in a seed funding round led by Shastra VC and BEENEXT. The round also saw participation from angel investors including Ashish Gupta (ex-MD & Co-founder, Helion Advisors) and PVS Raju (Vice Chairman, AIG Hospitals). The funds will be used to enhance precision manufacturing, grow engineering, quality, and operations teams, set up a production facility, strengthen supplier networks, expand global customer reach, and prepare for future Tier-1 and Tier-2 partnerships. 🔗 Read full article link in comment Nishant Khurana | Neeraj Agarwal | Piyush Agarwal | Vasant Rao | Anirudh Garg #axiriumaerospace #manufacturing #aerospace #funding #seedround #startupnews

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Indian spacetech startup Skyroot Aerospace preparing to launch the country’s first private commercial rocket within the next three months, according to a report by Mint. The Hyderabad-based startup, founded by former ISRO scientists Pawan Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka, plans to launch its maiden full-scale commercial satellite mission by January 2026. Until now, only ISRO has placed satellites in orbit, making this development a major step in the country’s space privatization efforts. Backed by investors including Temasek and GIC, Skyroot aims to conduct one launch every three months in 2026 and scale up to monthly launches by 2027. “Making a single rocket takes about eight to nine months and costs $2–3 million. Our revenue expectation per launch is about double that,” Chandana said, adding that the company expects to generate roughly $5 million per mission, beginning with its first launch, which will carry both domestic and international payloads. Founded in 2018, Skyroot has raised $95.5 million so far and was the first Indian private company to launch a rocket when it successfully tested its suborbital vehicle Vikram-S in November 2022. Galaxy Aerospace Ghana

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The Blueprint for India’s Dual-Use Tech Future is Now Capped at ₹25 Crore. The launch of the iDEX ADITI scheme—a $750 Crore outlay for strategically critical technologies—is not simply an innovation grant; it’s a direct MoD signal on where the Services see their future capability gaps. The grant cap of ₹25 Crore (approx. $3 Million) per project for startups/MSMEs developing game-changing tech like Quantum Cryptography, Satellite Communication Applications, and Autonomous Weapons confirms the dual-use focus is the only entry point for certain niche technologies. Here is the signal: The Indian defense ecosystem is not waiting for your finished product. It's aggressively funding the foundational IP required to bypass import dependency in the next 3-5 years. Foreign OEMs must move beyond basic technology transfer agreements. You need to leverage the iDEX/ADITI ecosystem by establishing a dedicated, funded JV/subsidiary that co-develops with an Indian entity that wins an ADITI grant. Your value proposition shifts from 'supplier' to 'scale-up and integration partner'. The operational expertise you bring to industrialize a lab-level breakthrough is the true currency. The faster you integrate your global supply chain with these iDEX winners, the more insulated you are from future indigenization mandates. The future of India’s ISR and non-kinetic warfare capabilities is being written in these small ADITI proposals. Are you reading the fine print? #iDEX #ADITI #DefenseInnovation #DualUseTech #IndianStartups #MSME #DefenseTechnology #ISR #QuantumTech #AutonomousSystems #VentureCapital #DefenseRampUp #StrategicCooperation #MakeInIndia #DeepTech

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LAT Aerospace has made its first strategic move into the defence sector by acquiring Sharang Shakti, an early-stage robotics startup headquartered in Gurgaon. The acquisition marks a significant shift in LAT’s broader roadmap. While the company has long been focused on developing next-generation civil aviation platforms from India, this deal signals a deliberate expansion into indigenous defence technology an area the company now sees as closely tied to its core mission. According to LAT’s founder Deepinder Goyal, civil aviation and defence may appear to be separate industries, but they share a common technological foundation. Systems like autonomy, perception, sensing, navigation, and guidance are central to both sectors making cross-industry development not just logical, but efficient. https://lnkd.in/gqw8ggGU

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Skyroot Aerospace eyes markets in US, Europe as Vikram-1 launch nears "We are right now at the spaceport (in Sriharikota), the whole rocket is there, it's undergoing integration operations,” Skyroot co-founder and CEO Pawan Kumar Chandana told Moneycontrol, referring to the company's upcoming Vikram-1 mission. "In a few weeks, we are expecting the launch." The development comes a few days after the startup announced a $60 million dollar fundraise from a clutch of investors, making it India's first space tech unicorn. The launch will mark India's first privately developed orbital mission — a milestone not just for Skyroo, but for the country's private space ecosystem that was opened up a couple of years ago. Chandana said the company expects 70-80 percent of its business to come from overseas markets, including the US, Europe and Southeast Asia. "We are more like a cab or an Uber to go to space," he said. "Customers requiring unique destinations in space book the full rocket." by Aihik Sur https://lnkd.in/g3fBzfMZ

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Adding Misochain to Capital-A portfolio—this marks our first investment in the aerospace and defence space. ✈️ India is ramping up production of aircraft and defense platforms, but many safety-critical components remain imported. MisoChain develops certified probes, sensors, and vibration isolators that directly influence aircraft performance and safety. Rama Kandula & Murali Krishnan P are focused on solving hard engineering and certification problems, and we’re glad to support the team as they build for long-term aerospace programs. 🛫 Ankit K. | Aswani Chaitanya N #Aerospace #DefenseManufacturing #DeepTech #MakeInIndia #Indigenisation #AerospaceComponents #Manufacturing #VentureCapital

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Scaling a global aerospace business demands financial leadership that can match operational ambition. Delighted to have Purvi Maheshwari join Jeh Aerospace as CFO. As we enter our next phase of growth, building a disciplined, forward-looking financial engine will be critical—and Purvi brings exactly that. Welcome aboard, Purvi. with Vishal Sanghavi

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FDH Aero is stepping up its India strategy as Matthew Lacki, president of FDH Hardware, pointed to strong momentum across the country’s aerospace and defence ecosystem with the inauguration of the company’s new office in Bengaluru. The US-based aerospace and defence supply chain firm has consolidated its hardware and electronics divisions under one roof, positioning the Bengaluru office as a full-service hub for regional customers. Backed by in-country inventory and local teams, the facility will support tier-1 manufacturers and original equipment manufacturers operating in India. The expansion comes at a time when India’s aerospace and defence sector is seeing faster growth, driven by rising defence spending, sustained commercial aviation demand and policy thrusts such as Make in India. For global supply chain players like FDH Aero, local presence is becoming critical as customers look for shorter lead times, on-ground support and resilient sourcing. FDH Aero has also strengthened leadership locally with senior appointments across its electronics and hardware businesses, signalling a long-term commitment to the Indian market. As India becomes a larger manufacturing and sourcing hub, such investments underline how global aerospace suppliers are aligning closer to where future demand is emerging. “Strong commercial aerospace demand, rising defence investment, and Made in India initiatives are accelerating growth across India's aerospace and defence sector,” said Matthew Lacki , president of FDH Hardware, FDH Aero.

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