Homegrown drone maker ideaForge has raised Rs 15 crore from debt round investor BlackSoil.
“The fund will be used for meeting the working capital requirements of the company to service its large order book,” the company in its statement said.
ideaForge had recently announced a USD 20 Mn order from the Indian Army for its SWITCH UAVs. SWITCH is a Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) with advanced capabilities of operating at high altitudes and difficult climatic conditions for day and night surveillance.
Speaking on fundraising, Ankit Mehta, Co-Founder & CEO of ideaForge said, “We are pleased to have Blacksoil as our partner, the time of the funding is opportune as we expect strong growth in our product pipeline. The funds, along with recent fundraise from Infosys and other investors will support ideaForge in the execution of our burgeoning order book, and we hope to build on this relationship & catapult the company into the next phase of growth.”
Commenting on the investment in ideaForge, Ankur Bansal, Director of BlackSoil Capital said, “ideaForge has created a robust line of drones backed by best in class hardware & software capabilities. Their products are best suited for Indian enterprise customers and solve for a wide range of use cases suitable to Indian requirements. We believe the new Indian Army contract is just a beginning for large-scale adoption of UAVs across security, surveillance, mapping for Defence, Industrial and Agricultural applications in India.”
“Covid has also accelerated the adoption and use of drones for various new use cases in urban areas. It is indeed a pleasure to be associated with such a deep tech company and help our country advance further in the Atmanirbhar initiative in a sunrise sector” Bansal added.