Aamir Khan, Ranbir Kapoor invest in IPO-bound DroneAcharya Aerial

Other than the Bollywood celebrities, ace investor Shankar Sharma has also picked a minority stake in the company. Besides, there are other investors, including Mangina Srinivas Rao (previously associated with e-Chaupal and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, India). Furthermore, there are a few angel investors, such as Jay Vishwanathan, VC Kartik and Samit Bhartia.

Vishwanathan is amongst the early pioneers of private equity in India, while Bhartia is the brother of Amit Bhartia, an ex-Partner at GMO.

Other key investors include Harshal Morde, an angel investor in media and entertainment-focused start-ups, and Ashish Nanda, founder and MD of Innovations Group, a UAE-based business conglomerate. Nikhil Chawla and Vivek Chandaria promoted Switzerland-based Wollstone Capital.

The company, on a recent basis, announced its plans to acquire 100-plus new drones as a part of its expansion plan. Further, the company plans to train 500 plus pilots and 25 instructors annually starting in 2023.

“Being a 40-plus people team, we are now embarking on a 2.0 vision of growth and value creation – with our listing and investment plans fortified. We are proud to be the first drone start-up in India to aim for listing and take the drone ecosystem in the country to the next level in the future,” Prateek Srivastava, Founder & Managing Director DroneAcharya Aerial Innovations, said.

Pune-headquartered DroneAcharya Aerial is India’s first integrated drone ecosystem start-up to set out for an IPO for listing on BSE SME Exchange.