ideaForge Expands ESOP Pool, Allots Another 95,954 Stock Options

Drone manufacturer ideaForge has allotted an additional 95,954 stock options under its Employees Stock Option Plan scheme (ESOP), 2018.

“… the executive committee of the board of ideaForge Technology Limited … has approved the allotment of 95,954 equity shares having face value of INR 10/- each towards the exercise of vested stock options under the ideaForge Employees Stock Option Scheme, 2018,” the company said in an exchange filing.

Consequent to the above allotment, the paid-up share capital of ideaForge has increased to INR 42.98 Cr from INR 42.89 Cr earlier.

Shares of ideaForge ended Friday’s trading session 0.7% lower at INR 829 on the BSE. As per the last close, the newly allotted ESOPs are worth nearly INR 7.95 Cr.

This is the second instance of increment in ideaForge’s ESOP pool size in less than a month. In June, the company announced the allotment of 1,678 stock options.

The development comes a day after ideaForge acquired an undisclosed amount of stake in Bengaluru-based spacetech startup GalaxEye Space for INR 8.28 Cr.

It was also reported earlier that ideaForge is looking to foray into the US market amid growing reluctance there to buy China-made drones.

Founded in 2007 by Ankit Mehta, Ashish Bhat, Rahul Singh, and Vipul Joshi, ideaForge is a drone manufacturing startup that makes unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) systems for inspection, surveillance and mapping. Its offerings span across sectors such as defence, construction, mining and agriculture.

The startup made its public debut in June last year, listing at a premium of 94% to its IPO price.

ideaForge’s consolidated profit after tax (PAT) shrank 30% to INR 10.3 Cr in the March quarter (Q4) of the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) as compared to INR 14.8 Cr in the December quarter.

However, revenue from operations jumped 12.5% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) to INR 102.3 Cr in Q4 FY24.

A number of new-age tech companies like Zomato, Nykaa, Delhivery, Paytm, PB Fintech and Policybazaar have announced ESOPs this year.

As per Inc42’s Indian Startup Founder Survey 2023, nearly 55% of founders were banking on ESOPs to woo employees back to the startup ecosystem in 2024.

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