ideaForge gets Rs 15-cr funding from BlackSoil Cap

Mumbai: INFOSYS-BACKED drone maker ideaForge has received Rs 15 crore funding from BlackSoil Capital.

The funds will be used for meeting the working capital requirements of the company to service its large order book, a release said on Tuesday. The firm, which has investment from US-based WRVI Capital and Qualcomm as well, recently secured an order for Switch Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) worth $20 million from the Indian Army, it said. The company has so far deployed more than 1,000 drones since inception.

Switch is a Vertical Take-off and Landing (VTOL) device with advanced capabilities of operating at high altitudes and difficult climatic conditions for day and night surveillance. "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," said Ankit Mehta, Co-founder and CEO, ideaForge.

ideaForge serves a number of homeland and security agencies in the country. "We believe the new Indian Army contract is just a beginning for large-scale adoption of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) 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," said Ankur Bansal, Director, BlackSoil Capital.