The Mumbai-based startup raised Rs.15 crore from BlackSoil in a venture debt round. The drone startup ideaForge has plans of utilizing the funds to meet its working capital requirements. They received an investment worth $1 million from Infosys. The company is pleased to have BlackSoil as its partner. They have received funds and Infosys too invested and there are other investors to support them. It is an honour for them that their idea is being praised and people are willing to invest.
The Co-founder and CEO of the startup ideaForge are Ankit Mehta. This company was founded in the year 2007. The other founders of the company are Rahul Singh, Vipul Joshi, and Ashish Bhat. They all are IIT Mumbai alumni. The idea behind their company is to manufacture drones for defence, homeland security, security agencies, and industrial applications. The company has more than 15 years of R&D and has applied for over 20 patents in Indian and international markets. The company claims that they have deployed over 1,000 drones since its inception.
Recently, in January, ideaForge asked for $20 million from the Indian Army for the delivery of its high-altitude variant product – Switch Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). SWITCH is a Vertical Take-off and Landing (VTOL) with advanced capabilities of operating at high altitudes and difficult climatic conditions for day and night surveillance.
By the year 2016, the startup raised $10 million as a part of its Series A investment round led by WRV Capital and Indus Age Partners. And Infosys had invested $1.5 million in this round.
The director of BlackSoil, Ankur Bansal said that ideaForge has created a robust line of drones that have the best hardware and software capabilities. They believe that the contract with the Indian Army is just a start towards large-scale adoption of UAVs across security, surveillance mapping for defence, industrial and agricultural applications in India, etc. They are looking forward to growing their company more and more and offering the best to the people.
Due to the pandemic which struck due to COVID-19, there has been a rise in the use of drones. They have seen an increase in the adoption and use of drones in urban areas as well.