The company was incorporated as ‘ideaForge Technology Private Limited’ on February 8, 2007, as a private limited company under the Companies Act, 1956, pursuant to a certificate of incorporation dated February 8, 2007 issued by the RoC. Subsequently, upon the conversion of the company into a public limited company, pursuant to a resolution passed by its Shareholders’ on December 20, 2022, the name of the company was changed to ‘ideaForge Technology Limited’ and a fresh certificate of incorporation dated January 2, 2023 was issued by the RoC.

ideaForge Technology is the pioneer and the pre-eminent market leader in the Indian unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) market. It had the largest operational deployment of indigenous UAVs across India, with an ideaForge manufactured drone taking off every five minutes for surveillance and mapping on an average. Its customers have completed many flights using its UAVs.Its UAVs are equipped with industry leading specifications and capabilities, comparable to those of other established global players in the UAV industry. Its capabilities like its indigenous design and technological ability to invent, design and deliver customer centric offerings allow it to design, develop, engineer and manufacture its UAVs in-house with a control on performance, reliability and autonomy. Its UAV platforms are architected with a ‘mission first’ approach i.e., to deliver UAVs which meet the requirements of its customers and which, it considers, can reliably sustain a large number of flights and are capable of being autonomously operated without special skills or training. In addition to being among the first few players in India to enter the UAV market, it also has the distinction of being the first company to indigenously develop and manufacture vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) UAVs in India in 2009. It has industry’s leading product portfolios targeted at civil and defence applications (dual use).

Its product portfolio consists of (a) hardware, which primarily includes UAVs, payloads, batteries, chargers and communication system (which enables communication between the ground control station and the UAVs), (b) software and embedded sub-systems, which includes the GCS software, which enables the controlling and management for its UAVs and autopilot sub-system, which enables remote control and autonomous completion of flights, and (c) solutions, which enables industry/ application specific software that enhances the value of its UAVs to the end customer. Its wide range of products gives it the necessary flexibility to meet the evolving demands of diverse customers across industries.

Business area of the company 

The company is engaged in the business of manufacturing and marketing of UAV systems which are used for security and surveillance. Its ancillary business of providing training and maintenance service evolves around the main business of manufacture and marketing of UAV systems.

Products and software of the company 

• Ninja UAV 
• Ryno UAV 
• Q4i UAV
• Q6 UAV
• Netra V4+ UAV
• Switch UAV
• Netra V4 Pro UAV
• BlueFire touch
• Autopilot

Awards, accreditations or recognition  

• 2017: Recognised as Best Product Design Company in the Indian Aerospace & Defence category by India Electronics & Semiconductor Association (IESA) at the Deftronics Award 2017.
• 2018: Received an award for business innovation at the MIF Awards 2018 by the Marico Innovation Foundation.
• 2020: Recognised as Top Indian MSME for Patents and Commercialisation at the National Intellectual Property Awards 2020.
• 2021: Received the National Geospatial Award by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry.
• 2021: Recognised as Best Drone Company by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India at the 13th International Conference cum Awards - Civil Aviation & Cargo.
• 2022: Received the Outstanding Achiever Award by Thane Small Scale Industries Association.
• 2023: Received the National Technology Award during the National Technology Week organised by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.
• 2023: Received the ‘Disruptor’ award at the CNBC-TV18 India Business Leader Awards 2023.

History and milestone

• 2007: Incorporation of the company.
• 2007: Incubation at Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Bombay.
• 2009: First angel investment by Sujata Vemuri in consultation with Ravi Bhagavatula.
• 2009: Demonstrated NETRA, exhibiting the product launch of India’s first quadcopter drone at DefExpo.
• 2009: Early prototype of its VTOL UAV (quadrotor helicopter) was featured in a popular Bollywood movie.
• 2009: Developed one of the world’s smallest and lightest autopilots.
• 2010: Sale of its first drone to a state police department.
• 2010: Developed NETRA UAV in partnership with a Government of India entity.
• 2014: Received Rs 388.10 million capital contract from Government of India entities.
• 2015: Angel Investment by Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM- Ahmedabad).
• 2016: Developed the first hybrid VTOL drone with fixed wings in India, known as the SWITCH UAV.
• 2017: First round of institutional investment by Celesta Capital II Mauritius, Celesta Capital II-B Mauritius, Qualcomm Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. and Infosys Limited.
• 2019: First Company to participate in the demonstration of 5G enabled UAVs at Indian Mobile Congress.
• 2020: Bagged contract for SWITCH 1.0 UAVs for around $18.27 million.
• 2022: Won the largest mini-VTOL UAV contract against global competitors from Russia, Israel, France, Ukraine and other countries.
• 2022: Second round of institutional investment by Florintree Enterprise LLP, Infina Finance Private Limited and Export Import Bank of India in addition to first round of institutional investors.
• 2022: Incorporated a Subsidiary in USA, ideaForge Technology Inc.
• 2023: Launched Netra V4 Pro in USA.