Drone maker ideaForge IPO to open on Jun 26; sets price band at Rs 638-672/share

Drone maker ideaForge Technology on Wednesday said it has fixed a price band of Rs 638 to 672 per share for its Rs 567-crore initial public offering (IPO).

The initial share sale will open for public subscription on June 26 and conclude on June 29, according to the company. The IPO comprises a fresh issue of equity shares worth Rs 240 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of 48,69,712 equity shares. The offer also includes a reservation for a subscription by eligible employees. Proceeds from the fresh issuance to the tune of Rs 50 crore will be utilised for debt payment, Rs 135 towards funding working capital gap, Rs 40 crore for investment in product development and the remaining amount for general corporate purposes.

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The IPO size could be Rs 550.69 crore and Rs 567.24 crore at the lower and upper end of the price band, respectively. Last week, the company raised Rs 60 crore in a pre-IPO placement round from institutional investors, including Tata AIG General Insurance, 360 ONE Special Opportunities Fund- Series 9 and 10, Motilal Oswal Midcap Fund, and Think Investments PCC. As per the company, investors can bid for a minimum of 22 equity shares in the public issue and in multiples of 22 equity shares thereafter. ideaForge had an order book of Rs 192.27 crore as on March 2023.

Founded in 2007, the Mumbai-based company has the largest operational deployment of indigenous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) across India, with its drones taking off every five minutes on average for surveillance and mapping. ideaForge has been backed by several marquee ventures and private equity investors, including Qualcomm Asia, Infosys and Celesta Capital. Mathew Cyriac-backed Florintree Enterprises is the single largest shareholder in the company with an 11.85 per cent stake. The drone maker’s customers include the armed forces, central armed police forces, state police departments, disaster management forces, forest departments and civil customers.

During the 2015 earthquake, ideaForge UAVs were used for site monitoring in Kathmandu, Nepal, and other locations to aid the search and rescue activities. During a terrorist incident in Pampore in 2016, ideaForge UAVs were able to deliver crucial intelligence by revealing the precise locations of the terrorists, as per the draft papers. JM Financial and IIFL Securities are the book running lead managers to the issue. Last year, Droneacharya Aerial Innovations got listed on the BSE SME platform.