DroneAcharya Aerial Innovations, the Pune-headquartered drone start-up company, on Thursday said it received an overwhelming response from the bidders, clocking a subscription of 262 times on the last day of its public issue aggregating Rs 6,016.78 crore.
The initial public offer (IPO) of Droneacharya Aerial Innovations Limited, had opened for subscription on the BSE SME IPO platform on December 13, 2022. The retail portion received a strong response, getting subscribed by 330.75 times at 69.19 crore shares against 20.92 lakh shares on offer.
Of the two other categories, the Non-Institutional Investor category (NII) was subscribed 388.71 times, accounting for over 34.90 crore shares against 8.98 lakh shares on offer. The Qualified Institutional Buyer (QIB) category was subscribed 46.21 times, representing 5.51 crore shares against 11.94 lakh shares on offer.
The company is offering a total of 62.90 lakh shares through the book-building process in the price band of Rs 52-54 per share. Of the 62.90 shares offered, 8.98 lakh shares are reserved for HNIs, 11.94 lakh shares are reserved for QIBs and 20.92 lakh shares will be offered to retail investors.
DroneAcharya AI is one of the first private players to receive a DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) certified RPTO (Remote Pilot Training Organization) license in 2022. Since March 2022, the company has trained more than 180 drone pilots. The company plans to enter the manufacture of customised 100% indigenous drones and offers land and underwater surveying services.
Bollywood celebrities Aamir Khan and Ranbir Kapoor, and market veteran Shankar Sharma, among others, have picked up minority stakes in DroneAcharya Aerial Innovations in the pre-IPO round.
Other than Sharma and the Bollywood actors, Mangina Srinivas Rao (previously associated with ITC e-Chaupal and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, India) also took a stake in the company.
Recently, DroneAcharya Aerial announced its plans to acquire 100-plus new drones as a part of its expansion plan. The company plans to train 500 plus pilots and 25 instructors annually starting in 2023.
