ideaForge IPO: Drone Startup Sets Price Band At INR 638-672

IPO-bound drone startup IdeaForge has set a price band of INR 638-672 per share. The IPO opens for subscription on June 26,2023, and closes on June 29,2023.

Anchor investors will be invited to subscribe to the company’s shares on June 23, 2023.

The IPO comprises a fresh issue of shares worth INR 240 Cr, and an offer for sale of 48.69 Lakh equity shares by promoters and investors. The IPO bound startup aims to raise around INR 567 Cr from the upper price band.

The drone startup raised INR 60 Cr in a pre-IPO funding round, which saw participation from institutional investors such as Tata AIG General Insurance, Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund, Think Investments PCC, and 360 One Asset Management.

ideaForge filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in February this year. It got SEBI approval for the IPO last month.

Founded in 2007 by IIT Bombay graduates Bhat, Mehta, Rahul Singh, Vipul Joshi, and Amardeep Singh, ideaForge is one of the oldest drone players in the country. It claims to have more than 20 patents. The startup counts Infosys, Florintree Enterprise, and Qualcomm, among others as its investors.

Further, ideaForge plans to deploy the proceeds from its IPO to pay off its INR 50 Cr debt.

Currently, cofounder Ankit Mehta is the largest individual shareholder in the startup and holds around 3.69 Mn shares on a fully diluted basis, or a 9.93% stake.

The company posted a profit after tax (PAT) of INR 45.2 Cr in the first half of FY23 as against a loss of INR 20.73 Cr in the same period in FY22, as per its DPHPl. Its operating revenue stood at INR 139.55 Cr in H1 versus INR 9.60 Cr in the year-ago period.

Several Indian startups including PharmEasy, MobiKwik, OYO, and Navi, have either postponed or suspended their plans to get listed on the bourses due to economic downturn. ideaForge would be the first new-age tech startup to list on the exchanges in 2023.