Soham Das
Soham Das
IdeaForge has come a long way since its cameo in Aamir Khan’s blockbuster, 3 Idiots. Flying high on favourable regulations and the government’s focus on building a domestic military industrial complex, the Mumbai-based drone manufacturer is perfectly poised for a stellar public listing.
March 10, 2023
6 MINS READOn December 25, 2009, hundreds of thousands of Indians streamed into movie theatres across the country to catch the first screenings of actor Aamir Khan’s film, 3 Idiots. What most didn’t realise at the time was that the drones featured in the film were the first glimpses of a startup that would eventually emerge as a vital part of India’s defence ecosystem—IdeaForge.
Started in 2007, IdeaForge was incorporated and incubated at the Society of Innovation and Entrepreneurship—IIT Bombay’s inhouse incubator. Since its Bollywood cameo, the company has quietly gone about its business, growing into arguably the most formidable homegrown drone manufacturer in the country.
An original equipment manufacturer (“OEM”), manufacturing drones end-to-end, its offerings span everything from hardware—primarily unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), payloads, batteries, chargers and communication systems—to software and solutions.
As of December 2022, its customers had logged more than 300,000 flights. Today, the company claims, an IdeaForge drone takes off roughly every five minutes. Its fixed wing drone, SWITCH, is the only Indian-made drone in its weight class that offers two hours of flight time, which led the Indian Army to place a $20 million order for it.
E-commerce
org-charts
By Gaurav Tyagi
Aviation
Premium Reads
By Raghav Mahobe
E-commerce
Premium Reads
By Pranav Balakrishnan
Investments
Premium Reads
By Nikhil Patwardhan
12 Min Read
By Raghav Mahobe
12 Min Read
By Pranav Balakrishnan
11 Min Read
By Nikhil Patwardhan
6 Min Read
By Dr Srinath Sridharan
10 Min Read
By Sohini Mitter
10 Min Read
By Gaurav Tyagi