Florintree Advisors, which made an early bet on ideaForge to get almost 600% return, bought a 15% stake in drone maker BotLab Dynamics, for about $2.4 Mn
BotLab Dynamics is an Indian drone maker that specialises in light show
Florintree placed its bet on BotLab after investing $12.15 Mn in ideaForge and generating high return from the investment
Former Blackstone dealmaker’s investment firm Florintree Advisors, which made an early bet on ideaForge to get almost 600% return, bought a 15% stake in drone maker BotLab Dynamics, for about $2.4 Mn, Mathew Cyriac, the investment firm’s founder, told Bloomberg.
Cyriac was Blackstone’s second employee in India in 2006 and eventually became its co-head for private equity in the country.
BotLab Dynamics is an Indian drone maker that specialises in light shows. “We had evaluated at least 15 drone makers in India before this investment,” Cyriac said.
With the fresh capital, BotLab will focus on product development as well as getting into defence and surveillance applications. The Delhi-based drone maker also plans to export to other Asian countries and the Middle East later.
Founded in 2016, BotLab Dynamics’ focus is on swarm technology which enables many drones to fly autonomously and simultaneously to achieve the assigned tasks and create formations in the sky. BotLab claims to have launched drone light show vertical by hosting a show with 1,000 drones at Rashtrapati Bhawan on 29th January 2022 for the Beating Retreat ceremony.
Florintree placed its bet on BotLab after investing $12.15 Mn in ideaForge at a valuation of $0.1 Bn. The investment firm did not sell shares in the drone startup during its IPO and remains its single largest shareholder with an 11% stake.
ideaForge made a mega debut on the Indian stock exchanges in July, listing at 94% premium to the issue price. On the NSE, ideaForge shares listed at INR 1,300, a premium of 93.45% to its issue price of INR 638-INR 672. On the BSE, the shares listed at INR 1,305.10 apiece – a premium of 94.21%.
The investment comes at a time when a slew of positive announcements related to the segment has been made by the Indian government including the Cabinet’s approval of the INR 120 Cr PLI scheme, a ban on the import of drones – intended to boost domestic manufacturing, and the drone certification scheme to ensure safety, among others.
Earlier, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said that India has the potential to become a global drone hub by 2030 since a large number of industries will adopt drone innovation. Prior to this, he also estimated that the Indian drone industry would have a turnover of around INR 15,000 Cr by 2026.
