Ideaforge - the eyes of Indian Army.

Ideaforge, the company whose UAV's has acted as the Indian commandos' eyes whenever they needed that, whether it was in 2013 when the Indian Army needed to look for survivors in submerged areas of Uttarakhand or more recently in 2016, when the Army commandos wanted essential intelligence on the positions of the Lakshar-e-Taiba militants holed up in a government building in Pampore.
IdeaForge is among a growing number of innovative ventures that are catering to India's defence forces. For Bengaluru-based Tonbo Imaging, which makes digital imaging systems for military equipment like guns, UAVs, and battle tanks, almost 80% of revenue comes from the defence forces, while the rest comes from industries like power.

Developing drones for the Indian defence establishments and other government organisations is what ideaForge has been doing since 2008 - the year when India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) spotted the talented team of the three founders rubbing shoulders with the students of MIT USA. 
IdeaForge, which claims to be the pioneer in the field of UAV development in India, was founded in 2007 by Ankit Mehta, Rahul Singh, Ashish Bhat, and Vipul Joshi.

Talking about the motivation behind starting up, Ankit says that the team had already worked on several technologies when they were in college. By the time they were graduating, they had many ideas that they wanted to convert into products. “We generally enjoy developing technological solutions that are cutting edge, and that is our core passion,” he says.
In 2009, the startup came out with the world's smallest and lightest autopilot UAV (only 10gm) and then soon after that developed the country's first fully autonomous vertical take-off and landing UAV. The team has not looked back since then. While refusing to divulge its revenue figures, Mehta says the company has gained sufficient market strength based on that initial traction.

Currently, the company has developed two categories of UAVs - NETRA, VTOL UAV and SKYBOX Fixed-Wing - and delivers this technology specifically to India's defence organisations and other government bodies.
"There are certain regulations in place, but they do not cover the entire spectrum of UAV usage. For example, the temporary regulations prevent the import of drones into the country without prior permission from the government. Additionally, civilian usage of drones is prohibited by law and is punishable. So while these rules have definitely impacted the Industry, our company has been less affected by them, mainly due to the fact that we cater to the armed forces," says Mehta.
The planfor the future is to further consolidate ideaForge's position in the Armed Forces market and become the lead provider of industrial and agricultural UAV solutions which, Mehta says, will also lead the company towards underserved international markets.