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Also in this letter:
■ Ideaforge Technology’s IPO to open on June 26
■ Avaana Capital secures $70 million for climate fund
■ Tech sector will bounce back: Nandan Nilekani
Tesla gears up for India entry
Tesla chief executive Elon Musk has made it abundantly clear that the electric vehicle manufacturer will enter the Indian market. It’s just a matter of when. “Hopefully we will be able to announce something in the not-so-distant future,” the Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter boss added.
Starlink in India: Musk also revealed that he plans to bring Starlink, a broadband Internet service developed by SpaceX, to India. “The Starlink Internet… I think, can be incredibly helpful for sort of remote or rural villages where they perhaps either may have no access to the Internet or the Internet is very expensive and slow,” he said.
‘Best to follow rules’: When asked about former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s recent allegation that the central government threatened to shut down the social networking service in India, Musk said, “Twitter does not have a choice but to follow the local government or it will get shut down.”
“We will do our best to provide the freest speech that is possible under the law,” he added.
Drone startup Ideaforge’s IPO to open on June 26
(L-R) Rahul Singh, VP engineering, Ankit Mehta, CEO and Vipul Joshi, CFO, Ideaforge
One of India’s largest drone manufacturers is all set for its initial public (IPO) offering next week.
Ideaforge Technology’s IPO will open for subscription on June 26, and it couldn’t have come at a better time as the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) market is poised for exponential growth over the coming years. With the country’s drone policy now in place and investors being lured with incentives, the public offer is nothing but timely.
Company details: Ideaforge, among the first entrants into India’s UAV market, offers its customers applications for surveillance, mapping, and surveying. The armed forces, central armed police forces, state police departments, disaster management forces, and forest departments besides other civil customers will stand to benefit from this.
The Mumbai-based firm is backed by marquee investors, including Infosys, Qualcomm, Celesta, Florintree, Exim Bank, Indusage Technology Venture Fund and Infina Finance.
From Powai to D-street: The drone-maker was started by IIT-Bombay graduates Ankit Mehta, Rahul Singh and Ashish Bhat in 2007. The trio built their first drone prototype that appeared in Aamir Khan-starrer 3 Idiots, in 2009. Same year, the company launched its first fully autonomous micro unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), with a quadrotor configuration. By 2014, the company had already delivered 70 drones to government agencies, and in 2016, it got $1.5 million in funding, led by Infosys.
Price band, issue size and more: The company has set the price band for the IPO at Rs 638-672 per share. The issue size will be Rs 567 crore at the upper end of the price band.
While 75% (Rs 412-425 crore) of the net offer is reserved for QIBs, 15% (Rs 82-85 crore) is set aside for NIIs, and 10% (Rs 55-57 crore) has been reserved for retail investors.
The offer will be available to the public till June 29. The allocation to anchor investors will be done on June 23.
Investors can bid for a minimum of 22 equity shares and in multiples of 22 shares thereafter.
The company will command a market capitalisation of Rs 2,800 crore at the upper price band.
Pre-IPO round: Ideaforge had raised about Rs 60 crore in a pre-IPO round. That round saw participation by institutional investors, including Tata AIG General Insurance, 360 One Asset Management, Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund, and Think Investments PCC, a foreign institutional investor.
Avaana Capital secures $70 million in first close for climate fund
Avaana Capital team (L-R): founding partner Anjali Bansal, partner Swapna Gupta and investment director Shruti Srivastava
Avaana Capital, a climate-focused venture capital firm, has secured commitments of $70 million for the first close of its Avaana Climate and Sustainability Fund, it said on Wednesday. Led by Anjali Bansal, Swapna Gupta and Shruti Srivastava, the fund will also invest in tech-driven and innovative climate solutions.
Details: The Mumbai-based firm is targeting a total corpus of $100-125 million for the fund, which will focus its investments on sectors that it said are responsible for 90% of India’s emissions: energy transition and resource management, mobility and supply chains, and sustainable agriculture and food systems.
Who’s investing? The fund has attracted institutional investors, including Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), Self Reliant India (SRI) Fund, the UK India Development Cooperation Fund (UKIDCF), and corporates such as Godrej Group, Murugappa Group, Torrent, Tsadik, and Bellerive Capital, among others.
Portfolio: Avaana Capital’s notable portfolio investments include Eeki Foods, Aerem, Kazam, sentra.world, FarMart, Eggoz, Ninety One 91, Turno and Terra.do. Capital from the new climate fund has been deployed into five startups already, with one deal yet to be disclosed, Bansal, founding partner, Avaana Capital, told ET.
(L-R) Crib cofounders Shaifali Jain, Sunny Garg and Archit Chauhan
Prop-tech startup Crib raises Rs 15 crore: Prop-tech startup Crib, a SaaS-based marketplace for co-living, has raised Rs 15 crore in its seed round, which was co-led by WeFounderCircle and Rebright Partners. The fresh capital will be used to expand its product offerings, and scale distribution to all the major pincodes in India. Founded in 2022 by Sunny Garg, Shaifali Jain and Archit Chauhan, Crib is a digital ecosystem that connects landlords, tenants and entrepreneurs.
Rural-focused fintech startup Navadhan raises $1.5 million: Navadhan has raised $1.5 million in a seed funding round led by Varanium NexGen, a fintech-focused fund. Existing investor Anicut Capital co-led the round, while Gemba Capital also participated. Navadhan had previously raised $14.5 million in both equity and debt across four rounds of investments from Anicut Capital, BOPA, Flowstate and angel investors.
SafEarth secures Rs 3.5 crore in latest funding round: SafEarth, a technology platform for the adoption of renewable energy, has raised Rs 3.5 crore in a funding round led by Anthill Ventures, Third Derivative, and Mumbai Angels. The funds will be used for product development and to support its expansion into new industrial belts across the country, it said. SafEarth’s mid-term goal is to facilitate the reduction of one million tonnes of annual carbon emissions in the next two years through over 1GW of solar projects. The funding will play a crucial role in achieving this milestone and empowering industries to reduce one billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent by 2030.
Tech sector facing challenges but will bounce back: Nandan Nilekani
Trust Nandan Nilekani to always look at the bright side of things. The global technology sector is poised for a comeback soon, though it does face challenges from the global economic uncertainties amid a high-inflation environment and recessionary fears, the Infosys co-founder who’s just made a whopping donation to IIT-Bombay said.
Quote, unquote: “I think there is an overall global economic challenge, but I think over time it (the tech sector) will come back. But no one knows how soon,” Nilekani told ET on Tuesday.
Also read | Infosys cofounder Nandan Nilekani donates Rs 315 crore to alma mater IIT Bombay
Big Tech layoffs: Nilekani’s statement comes in the backdrop of Big Tech companies such as Meta, Google, Amazon and Google laying off techies in the west in a move to cut costs. The four companies have together shed over 50,000 employees in the last 12 months. Big Tech is correcting its headcount after the overhiring of the last few years to meet the post-pandemic surge in demand and business expansion.
AI may also solve social issues: Nilekani said artificial intelligence can also be used to solve social issues apart from creating business opportunities. “AI is a big thing now. The potential of AI is creating new opportunities in India, not only for business but also for solving social issues,” he added.
Today’s ETtech Top 5 newsletter was curated by Megha Mishra in Mumbai and Erick Massey in New Delhi. Graphics and illustrations by Rahul Awasthi.
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