ideaForge Shares Rally 13% To INR 526

Shares of listed dronetech startup ideaForge surged as much as 13.6% to INR 526 during early trading hours on the BSE today.

The rally came two days after the startup unveiled its mapping UAV, the Q6V2 GEO. It then reportedly said that Q6V2 GEO is capable of mapping diverse terrains, from glaciers to urban corridors, delivering survey-grade accuracy and more than 50 minutes of flight time with LiDAR payloads.

Weighing under 7 kg, the UAV supports modular payloads, including photogrammetry, LiDAR, oblique imaging, hyperspectral sensing and thermal detection.

By 11:10 AM, the stock was still trading 10.6% higher at INR 512 on the BSE, pushing the startup’s market capitalisation to INR 2,212.07 Cr. The uptrend stood out against broader Indian indices, with both Sensex and Nifty 50 down 0.6% at the same time.

Despite today’s rally, ideaForge shares have delivered a negative return of 18% on a year-to-date basis. However, the stock have recovered some ground for the year, narrowing negative returns to 6.7% in the past one month.

On the financial front, the startup posted a weak quarterly performance. Its operating revenue fell 85% YoY and 37% QoQ to INR 12.8 Cr. It also reported a net loss of INR 23.6 Cr, compared to a net profit of INR 1.2 Cr in Q1 FY25, its fourth consecutive loss-making quarter.

Charting ideaForge’s 2025 Shares So Far

ideaForge entered 2025 on a weak footing, with its stock under pressure from low revenues and shrinking margins. The decline pushed shares to a 52-week low of INR 301 on April 7, 2025.

The sentiment shifted in May after Operation Sindoor triggered a sudden rally in defence tech stocks, which jumped as much as 50% within weeks.

Riding this momentum, ideaForge shares also surged sharply. Adding to the optimism, the startup secured a fresh INR 137 Cr defence order from the defence ministry in June.

However, the momentum was short-lived. The release of weak Q1 FY26 results in July weighed heavily on the stock once again.

Based on yesterday’s closing price, ideaForge trades 37% below its 52-week high of INR 740, recorded nearly a year ago on August 26, 2024.

ideaForge was listed on the Indian bourses on July 7, 2023. The shares debuted at a premium of approximately 94% against the issue price of INR 638-INR 672, with its listing price on the BSE at INR 1,305.10 and on the NSE at around INR 1,300.

Founded in 2007 by a group of IIT Bombay alumni Ankit Mehta, Rahul Singh, Ashish Bhat, and Vipul Joshi, ideaForge’s core revenue comes from manufacturing and direct sales of technologically advanced, high-performance unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to clients in defence, law enforcement, infrastructure, agriculture, mining, and other sectors.

Besides, the startup makes money from maintenance services, training services, and software services, among others.

ideaForge’s order book is skewed towards civil contracts, with more than 90% orders coming from civil.

In response to revenue pressures, the startup is shifting from a pure-play drone manufacturer to a drone solutions provider. It has launched Flyght Cloud, a cloud data analytics platform, and FLYGHT Docks, a drone-as-a-service platform.

Further strengthening its portfolio, ideaForge earlier this year unveiled new drone models, Netra 5 and Switch V2, at the AeroIndia show held in February.

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