DroneAcharya Lists At 89% Premium Despite Negative Sentiment Around New-Age Tech Stocks

Shares of drone startup DroneAcharya Aerial Innovations got listed on the Indian stock exchange at almost a 90% premium to its issue price on Friday (December 23) amid a lull in the overall stock market, with most new-age tech stocks trading in the red.

DroneAcharya debuted at INR 102 apiece on the BSE SME platform against its issue price of INR 54 apiece. The shares rose further during the day and were trading at INR 107.1 at 2 PM, up 5% from their listing price.

The drone startup was looking to raise nearly INR 34 Cr through IPO, which was oversubscribed 262X due to strong demand from both high net-worth individuals (HNIs) and retail investors. The portion reserved for non-institutional investors (NIIs) was subscribed over 388X, while that for qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) was subscribed 46.21 times.

Founded by Prateek Srivastava in 2017, DroneAcharya offers various drone solutions for multi-sensor drone surveys, pilot training, data processing, and more. It has become the first Indian drone startup to get listed on the stock exchange. 

DroneAcharya is only the third Indian new-age tech startup to go public in 2022.

DroneAcharya was one of the first private players to receive a Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) certified Remote Pilot Training Organisation (RPTO) licence in 2022. It is backed by key investors like Harshal Mode, Shankar Sharma, Ashish Nanda, along with Bollywood names like Aamir Khan and Ranbir Kapoor.

The drone startup plans to utilise the funds raised from the IPO for purchasing and manufacturing drones, sensors, and processing infrastructure, as well as opening 12 new training centres by March 2023.

Ahead of its IPO, DroneAcharya raised INR 9.66 Cr as part of its anchor round from investors including Aegis Investment Fund, Maven India Fund, and Nav Capital VCC-NAV Capital Emerging Star Fund. The startup allocated a total of 17.90 Lakh equity shares to its anchor investors at INR 54 per share. 

DroneAcharya reported a total revenue of about INR 3.1 Cr and a net profit of INR 72.06 Lakh in Q1 FY23.

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