ideaForge Allots Additional Equity Shares Under ESOP 2018

Days after allotting 38,946 equity shares under its employee stock option plans (ESOP) 2018, drone manufacturing startup ideaForge has now allotted additional equity shares under the same plan.

As per the company’s statement, ideaForge has now approved the allotment of 3,936 equity shares for the exercise of vested options under its ESOP 2018.

“… the executive committee of the board of the ideaForge Technology Limited (Company) on September 16, 2024 has approved the allotment of 3,936 equity shares having face value of INR 10/- each towards the exercise of vested stock options,” the statement added.

The startup has set the exercise price at INR 10 per share.

Based on ideaForge’s closing price on Friday (September 13) trading session, these allotted stocks are valued at INR 27.41 Lakh.

Following the allotment of these shares, the startup’s paid-up capital saw a marginal increase to INR 43,02,88,360 from INR 43,02,49,000.

At 2:06 PM, ideaForge shares were trading up 2.14% at INR 711.45 on BSE today (September 16).

This comes back of JM Financial initiating coverage on the startup with a ‘buy’ rating. The brokerage firm also said that  the startup is set to benefit from the government’s “positive” policy push and increase in drone adoption across sectors in the country.

Few months earlier, under its ESOP 2018 pool expansion, the company allocated 1,678 equity shares to its employees. 

Founded by Ankit Mehta, Ashish Bhat, Rahul Singh, and Vipul Joshi in 2007,ideaForge is a drone manufacturing startup that makes unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) systems for inspection, surveillance and mapping. Its offerings span across sectors such as defence, construction, mining and agriculture.

The company recently bought an undisclosed stake in Bengaluru-based spacetech startup GalaxEye Space for INR 8.28 Cr. With this acquisition, the company looks forward to developing drone-based sensors for fog and foliage penetrations, the company added.

On the contrary, ideaForge posted an almost 94% decline in its profit after tax (PAT) to INR 1.2 Cr in FY25 from INR 18.9 Cr in the previous year’s quarter, hurt by lower revenue and surging in spending towards cost of materials.

On a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis, the company’s PAT declined 87% from INR 10.3 Cr in Q4 FY24. 

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