DroneAcharya Aerial Innovations, which recently filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) for its initial public offering (IPO) to offer 62.90 lakh equity shares of Rs 10 each through the book-building route, has seen marque investors pick a minority stake in the company. The Pune-headquartered India’s first integrated drone ecosystem start-up is set for an IPO for listing on the BSE SME Exchange.
The book-running lead manager to the issue is Corporate Capital Ventures.
“Besides Shankar Sharma, Mangina Srinivas Rao (previously associated with ITC e-Chaupal and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, India) also took a stake in the company. In addition, a few angel investors, including Jay Vishwanathan, VC Kartik and Samit Bhartia, have also invested in the company. Jay Vishwanathan is amongst the early pioneers of private equity in India, while Samit Bhartia is the brother of Amit Bhartia, an ex-Partner at GMO,” DroneAcharya said in a statement.
Other key investors include Harshal Morde, an angel investor in media and entertainment-focused start-ups, and Ashish Nanda, Founder & Managing Director of Innovations Group, a UAE-based business conglomerate. Nikhil Chawla and Vivek Chandaria promoted Switzerland-based Wollstone Capital, and Bollywood celebrities – Amir Khan and Ranbir Kapoor also picked up a stake in the company in the Pre-IPO round.
Corporate Capital Ventures (CCV), the lead manager to the forthcoming public offering, has played a crucial role in facilitating these investments.
Recently, DroneAcharya Aerial announced its plans to acquire 100-plus new drones as a part of its expansion plan. Further, the company plans to train 500 plus pilots and 25 instructors annually starting in 2023.
Prateek Srivastava, founder and managing director of DroneAcharya Aerial Innovations, said, “Being a 40-plus people team, we are now embarking on a 2.0 vision of growth and value creation – with our listing plans and investment plans fortified. We are proud to be the first drone start-up in India to aim for listing and take the drone ecosystem in the country to the next level in the future.”
He added that given the recent vision shared by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make India a global drone hub, the industry is experiencing a steady increase in demand for professionals.
“We at DroneAcharya have built a highly skilled and experienced team of trainers, data professionals and sector experts to offer a holistic ecosystem, ranging from learning solutions to services and manufacturing within the first five years of our inception,” it said.
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