IdeaForge Technology: The country's largest drone maker, is preparing to launch an IPO. The company has filed a prospectus with market regulator SEBI for an issue of Rs 750 crore. Under this issue, new equity shares worth Rs 10 crore with a face value of Rs 300 will be issued.
Apart from this, other investors, including promoter group entities Qualcomm and venture capital firm, will sell 4.87 lakh equity shares under the Offer for Sale (OFS) window. After the success of the IPO, it will be the first company to make drones, which will be listed on BSE-NSE. On December 23 last year, drone company Droneacharya Aerial Innovations entered the domestic market but its shares were listed on BSE-SME.
IdeaForge IPO Details
Under the Rs 750 crore issue of IdeaForge, new shares worth Rs 300 crore will be issued. However, the company is in talks with some lead bankers for shares up to Rs 60 crore and if the negotiations are successful, the number of new shares under the issue may be reduced. IdeaForge's issue can come in May this year. 75 per cent of the issue will be reserved for qualified institutional buyers (QIB), 15 per cent for non-institutional investors (NIIs) and 10 per cent for retail investors. Some part will also be reserved for the company's employees.
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The Rs 50 crore raised through the issuance of new shares will be used to repay the debt. Rs 135 crore will be used to meet working capital requirements and Rs 40 crore will be used to invest in product development. The rest of the money will be used for common corporate purposes. The book running lead managers for the issue are JM Financial and IIFL Securities. At the same time, registrar link is Intime India Private Limited.
Company details
IdeaForge was started in 2007 by IIT Bombay alumni Ankit Mehta, Ashish Bhat, Rahul Singh, Vipul Joshi and Amardeep Singh. The company claims to have over 15 years of R&D experience and more than 20 patents. It has filed 62 applications for patents of which 28 are domestic and 34 are international. This company manufactures drones for surveillance, mapping and survey. Its drones are used by Army, CAPFs. State Police, Disaster Management Forces, Forest Departments and general customers.
This company is the largest company in the country in terms of indigenous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). It was used to aid in search and rescue activities during the 2015 earthquake in Nepal. Talking about the financial health of the company, its operational revenue has grown at a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 237.48 per cent in the last three financial years.
It was in loss in the financial year 2021 but in the very next financial year it got a profit of Rs 44.01 crore. Talking about the current financial year, in April-September 2022, it earned an operational revenue of Rs 138.55 crore and a net profit of Rs 45.21 crore.