Skyroot Aerospace does a SpaceX, offers Elon Musk-style Esops to its founders

The founder-only employee stock option plan will give Pawan Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka up to a 4% equity stake, provided their company generates revenue by launching a satellite and raises $100 million at a valuation of more than $1 billion by December 2028. The Hyderabad-based startup will issue these shares to CEO Chandana and COO Daka in three tranches. Chandana stands to get twice as many shares as Daka.

The first two tranches are contingent on the startup successfully placing a satellite in orbit, followed by a second rocket carrying an at least 200 kg payload, according to an executive privy to the development. The final tranche is linked to raising $100 million at a $1 billion valuation.

Privately held Skyroot, which counts steel magnate Lakshmi Niwas Mittal as an investor, first launched its suborbital rocket, Vikram-S, in November 2022. However, its plan to put a satellite into orbit has been delayed, with an initial launch planned first for 2024 and subsequently, by March this year.

Retaining key leaders

The founder-only Esop plans are common in private firms preparing for public offerings to retain key leaders, as seen at Paytm, Zomato and Nykaa. However, Skyroot, which has yet to generate revenue, is not clear about pursuing a public listing. Chandana indicated last November that it is too early to consider an initial public offering.

“A rocket is not like any other business, where success can be simply measured by revenue growth. Instead, a rocket is a system of multiple systems, and proving each sub-system to be successful would be key for Skyroot to win the confidence of both global clients and investors,” said Giri.

The other key factor, Giri said, is that the two founders, because of the progress they made and the pedigree they bring to the table, would be foundational for the success of Skyroot.

“Investors would want the two founders to be at the company in the long run because Skyroot’s long-term success will be defined by how well Chandana and Daka do. Such a plan, in fact, sounds fair, given how space is as an industry,” Giri said.

A text message sent to Bansal went unanswered. Chandana did not respond to text messages or emails. A company spokesperson declined to comment, saying “the company is not talking about these factors right now—currently, the sole focus of the two founders is on the upcoming launch mission”.

Additionally, Musk will receive these shares if SpaceX establishes a city on Mars with 1 million residents. The board has not assigned Musk any timeline for any of the three far-flung targets. On 1 April, SpaceX confidentially filed with the US regulator for a public listing at a $1.75 trillion valuation.

For now, Chandana owns 17.42% and Daka owns 8.55%, giving the founders a total of a 25.97% stake in Skyroot. GIC is the largest public investor with a 31.08% stake, followed by Chalamalasetty of Greenko Group with a 16.59% stake, according to a Mint analysis of the company’s shareholding pattern at the end of March 2025.

Shouvik Das

Shouvik has been tracking the rise and shifts of India’s technology ecosystem for over a decade, across print, broadcast and web-first platforms. He's been a tinkerer of machines and PCs since childhood, a habit he was thrilled to convert into his profession. This has led him to fascinating experiences of technologies around the world, which is what keeps him hooked to his job.Shouvik likes to believe that he is one of the few technology journalists in India who can also code. He has also been writing about the rise of AI well before it became a household name, and has met some of the most fascinating people over the years through his work.Shouvik writes about AI, Big Tech, data centres, electronics, semiconductors, cybersecurity, gaming, cryptocurrencies, and consumer technologies. He is most fond of the stories he has written during his time here at Mint, for which he also writes 'Transformer', a weekly technology newsletter, and hosts 'Techcetra', a weekly technology podcast.Outside of work, Shouvik spends most of his time with Pixel, whom he believes is the world's best dog. He is also an avid reader, a toy collector, a gamer and a frequent traveller.

Varun Sood

Varun Sood has been a business journalist writing on corporate affairs for the past 17 years. He currently oversees corporate coverage, including information technology (IT) services, aviation, auto, metals and mining, and conglomerates at Mint. He started as a reporter at Business Standard in 2005, after a short internship at the Economic and Political Weekly. Having worked across newsrooms in Delhi and Mumbai, including at DNA, the Financial Times, and the Economic Times, he is now based in Bengaluru. He is most proud of his work over the last decade at Mint, including writing about the rise and fall of some CEOs at Infosys, TCS, Cognizant, and Wipro. His first book, “Azim Premji: The Man Beyond the Billions”, was published by HarperCollins in October 2020. These days, he is spending more time reading annual reports and analysts' transcripts. Varun’s two pet peeves are access journalism and the dying art of interviews with business leaders. If you think there is something wrong inside your company or there are problems with corporate governance that you'd like to highlight, email him at varun.sood@livemint.com.