Bumper listing! ideaForge nearly doubles IPO investor wealth with 94% gain

Despite expensive ask valuation, ideaForge attracted strong response to its offer across investor categories mainly due to its market leadership in the Indian Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) drone market and no direct peers in the listed space.

The IPO of India’s leading drone maker was subscribed 106 times at close. The quota reserved for retail individual investors (RIIs) was subscribed 85.1 times, qualified institutional buyers by 125.81 times and non-institutional investors(NIIS) by 80.5 times.

Ahead of the listing, the company’s shares commanded a grey market premium (GMP) of Rs 515 in the unlisted market.

Ideaforge Technology is a leader in the Indian unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) market, with a market share of 50% in FY22. The company manufactures UAVs for mapping, security and surveillance.

These drones are capable of a wide range of mining area planning, and mapping applications.

Industry-wise, the government has put in place several laws and policies that address both the supply side (through PLI and import bans) and demand side (through drone policy) issues.India also has a remarkable opportunity to target approximately 1.8 lakh crore of total domestic manufacturing potential from the UAS space, according to experts.

The Mumbai-based company is backed by Infosys, Qualcomm, Celesta, Florintree, EXIM Bank, Indusage Technology Venture Fund, and Infina Finance.

Its revenue from operations increased 16% year-on-year to Rs 186 crore in fiscal 2023, whereas profit after tax stood at Rs 31.99 crore in the same period.

The proceeds from its fresh issuance to the tune of Rs 50 crore will be utilised for repayment of certain indebtedness availed by the company, Rs 135 crore towards funding working capital requirements, Rs 40 crore for investment in product development and general corporate purposes.

JM Financial and IIFL Securities were the book-running lead managers, and Link Intime India acted as the registrar for the issue.

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