In 2018, when India’s private space sector was still largely closed to private companies, Mukesh Bansal made a risky ₹12 crore investment in Skyroot Aerospace.
The Myntra and Cultfit founder became the startup’s sole angel investor at the time, backing former ISRO scientists Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka, who had founded Skyroot with the vision of building India’s first private orbital rocket.
The bet came nearly two years before India officially opened the space sector to private players. Skyroot later went on to launch Vikram-S in 2022 and achieved a major breakthrough with Vikram-1’s historic orbital mission.
The company’s growth also turned Bansal’s early bet into a massive financial success. According to data cited in the report, he still holds a 5.7% stake in Skyroot, valued at more than ₹600 crore, while he has already made over ₹100 crore through partial exits.
Together, his remaining stake and realised returns are valued at more than ₹700 crore, nearly 60 times his original ₹12 crore investment.
The investment highlights the high-risk, high-reward potential of India’s emerging space economy. What began as a bet on a little-known rocket startup eventually became a stake in India’s first space-tech unicorn.
For Mukesh Bansal, a ₹12 crore investment in 2018 has reportedly grown into a fortune worth over ₹700 crore, all from backing India’s private space dream before it had even taken off.
