Drone maker ideaForge raises Rs 255 Cr from anchor investors, ahead of IPO

Drone maker ideaForge on Friday said it has mobilised Rs 255 crore from anchor investors ahead of its initial share sale that opens for public subscription on Monday.

The company has allocated 37.93 lakh equity shares to 31 funds at Rs 672 apiece, aggregating the transaction size to Rs 255 crore, according to a circular uploaded on the BSE website.

Nomura Funds Ireland Public Ltd, Pinebridge Global Funds, Goldman Sachs Funds, Tata AIG General Insurance Company, Tata AIA Life Insurance Company, and Max Life Insurance Co Ltd are among the anchor investors.

In addition to these, a host of mutual funds, including ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund (MF), Axis MF, HDFC MF, Aditya Birla Sun Life MF, Quant MF, Nippon India MF and Motilal Oswal MF, participated in the anchor round.

The initial public offer (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.

The issue, with a price band of Rs 638 to 672 per share, will open for public subscription on June 26 and conclude on June 29.

The IPO size would be Rs 550.69 crore and Rs 567.24 crore at the lower and upper end of the price band, respectively.

Proceeds from the fresh issuance to the tune of Rs 50 crore will be utilised for debt payment, Rs 135 towards funding the working capital gap, Rs 40 crore for investment in product development, and the remaining amount for general corporate purposes.

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 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 an 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% stake.

The drone maker's customers include the armed forces, the 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 with 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.