ideaForge gets SEBI approval for IPO

3 May 2023 , 04:16 AM

The unmanned aircraft systems (‘UAS’) market in India is led by Mumbai-based drone manufacturer ideaForge Technology Limited, which holds a market share of over 80%.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the country’s capital markets regulator, has given its final approval for the  initial public offering (IPO).

On February 10, 2023, the company submitted preliminary IPO papers to SEBI. 

A fresh issue of Rs 300 crore and an offer to sell 4,869,712 equity shares make up the public offering, which has a face value of Rs 10 per equity share. The offer also permits qualified employees to reserve a subscription.

The offer for sale comprising of up to 158,200 equity shares by Ashish Bhat, up to 8,362 equity shares by Amarpreet Singh, up to 22,600 equity shares by Nambirajan Seshadri, up to 22,600 equity shares by Naresh Malhotra, up to 203,400 equity shares by Sujata Vemuri, up to 51,980 equity shares by Sundararajan K Pandalgudia, up to 135,600 equity shares by A&E Investment LLC, up to 53,200 equity shares by Agarwal Trademart Private Limited, up to 1,106,722 equity shares by Celesta Capital II Mauritius, up to 131,758 equity shares by Celesta Capital II-B Mauritius, up to 202,044 equity shares by Export Import Bank of India, up to 1,695,000 equity shares by Indusage Technology Venture Fund I, up to 1,055,646 equity shares by Qualcomm Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., up to 22,600 equity shares by Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

The company may think about issuing selected securities totaling up to Rs 60 crore in collaboration with the lead bankers to the issue. If such a placement is successful, the size of the new issue will be decreased.

Rs50 crore of the proceeds from the new issuance will be used for prepayment or repayment of some debt that the company has borrowed, Rs135 crore for working capital needs, Rs40 crore for product development investments, and the remaining Rs150 crore for general corporate reasons.

ideaForge, a company founded in 2007 and run by first-generation business owners, primarily serves clients who need applications for surveillance, mapping, and surveying. Along with other civil clients, it has as clients the armed forces, the central armed police, state police departments, disaster management forces, and forest departments. According to a survey released by Drone Industry Insights in December 2022, it is one of the first few Indian businesses to enter the UAV market and is ranked 7th internationally in the dual-use category, which includes both civil and defence applications.

Leading investors including Infosys, Qualcomm, Celesta, Florintree, EXIM Bank, Indusage Technology Venture Fund, and Infina Finance support the Mumbai-based startup. Currently, Exim Bank owns 1.09% of the company, followed by Qualcomm with 3.79% and Celesta with 13.35%.

The book-running lead managers for the issuance are JM Financial Limited and IIFL Capital Services Limited, while Link Intime India Private Limited is the registrar.

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