IPO of Shankar Sharma-Droneacharya Aerial Innovations to open next week

The latest IPO Grey Market Premium (GMP) for Droneacharya Aerial Innovations was ₹15 as of Dec. 5 at 04:29 PM. The anticipated listing price for the Droneacharya Aerial Innovations SME IPO, considering the price band of 54, is Rs. 69 (cap price of Rs. 54 + today’s GMP of Rs. 15). As a result, the estimated gain from the current GMP is 27.78%.

The company has said in its official release that of the 62.90 shares offered, 8.98 lakh shares are reserved for HNI’s, 11.94 lakh shares are reserved for QIB’s and 20.92 lakh shares will be offered to retail investors.

The shares of the company will be listed on BSE SME Exchange. The fresh funds raised will be utilised to purchase and manufacture drones, sensors and processing infrastructure. Further, the company plans to open 12 new training centres by March 2023. For Q1FY23, the company reported a total revenue of ₹308.96 lakhs and a net profit of ₹72.06 lakhs.

Shankar Sharma adds, “Given Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision to make India a global drone hub, we have invested in drone services and pilot training start-up Droneacharya. Further, drones are being widely used in the country across industries for surveys, deliveries and surveillance, and this segment is expected to perform strongly in the coming years. We see a great value creation as the company has within a very short span been able to scale up its operations and has dynamic plans ahead.”

Along with Shankar Sharma, Mangina Srinivas Rao (formerly linked to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, India and ITC e-Chaupal) has also acquired a stake in the company. A few angel investors have also invested in the firm, including Samit Bhartia, VC Kartik, and Jay Vishwanathan. Samit Bhartia is the brother of Amit Bhartia, a former partner of GMO, and Jay Vishwanathan is one of India’s early pioneers of private equity.

DroneAcharya Aerial Innovations (Droneacharya AI) also said today in an official announcement that other key investors include Harshal Mode, 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 Wellstone Capital have also picked up a stake in the company in the Pre-IPO round of funding.

One of the earliest private players to be granted an RPTO (Remote Pilot Training Organization) licence by the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) in 2022 is DroneAcharya AI. The company has coached more than 180 drone pilots since March 2022. The business also provides land and underwater surveying services, including powerlines & utilities, oil & gas infrastructure, mines & quarries, energy & renewables, roads & highways, urban & rural planning, agriculture & irrigation, underwater inspection, and underwater bathymetry. The company also plans to enter the manufacture of customised, 100% indigenous drones.