The Indian Army had recently signed an approximately $20 million contract for undisclosed quantities of a high-altitude variant of ideaForge’s SWITCH UAV
IT Services company Infosys is investing an additional $1 million in IdeaForge. The latter us into manufacturing of drones and unmanned aerial vehicles. Infosys, earlier, had invested $1.5 million in IdeaForge in the year 2016. The transaction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of FY21.
“The company has agreed with ideaForge Technology to invest an additional USD 1 million taking the cumulative investment to USD 2.5 million as of date, subject to necessary closing conditions,” Infosys noted in a regulatory filing.
$20 million contract with the Indian Army
The Indian Army had recently signed an approximately $20 million contract for undisclosed quantities of a high-altitude variant of ideaForge’s SWITCH UAV which will be delivered over a period of one year. ideaForge was awarded this contract after it emerged as the only vendor that qualified the operational requirements in an evaluation done in real-world conditions, for a fast-track procurement.
“A combination of world-class technology and a deep understanding of customer requirements has resulted in ideaForge bagging this contract against global competition. With the backing of reputed institutional investors such as WRVI, Infosys and Qualcomm, ideaForge is all set to grow rapidly,” Ganapathy Subramaniam, Partner – WRVI Venture Capital who also serves as Executive Chairman – ideaForge, had said earlier.
He had also added, “We plan to work with like-minded investors and partners to achieve our vision of premier drone company serving enterprise, security and surveillance market globally.”
SWITCH UAV, as per the company, is an indigenous system built to cater for the most demanding surveillance operations of the Indian Forces. This Fixed Wing VTOL (Vertical Take-off and Landing) UAV can be deployed at high altitude and harsh environments for day and night surveillance in Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions. It is man-portable and has the highest time on target compared to any other UAV in its class.
