DroneAcharya to acquire 76% stake in Aerophile Academy

Industrial drone solution provider, DroneAcharya Aerial Innovations Ltd is set to acquire a majority stake in Aerophile Academy Pvt Ltd, a DGCA-certified company that provides drone pilot training.

The board at DroneAcharya has signed a term sheet to acquire a 76% stake in Aerophile Academy, as per the company’s regulatory filings sourced from the stock exchange.

This strategic decision marks DroneAcharya's entry into South India's drone pilot training sector. Currently, it operates in Central, North, and West India.

Led by Krishna Shrivatsa, Aerophile Academy is a DGCA-certified Remote Pilot Training Organisation (RPTO), located in Bengaluru, Karnataka. Aerophile Academy, in association with Skyvenger Aviation, has provided services in several sectors including aerial surveying and mapping, corporate videos, agriculture, mining, transportation and logistics, construction, forestry, and disaster management.

Aerophile Academy, however, will retain the 24% stake following the acquisition. Specific details of the acquisition will be finalized in the Share Purchase Agreement, as per the filings.

For the half-year-ending period (April-September 2023), DroneAcharya’s scale surged multifold to Rs 20.9 crore as compared to Rs 1.9 crore during the same period of the previous year. The company also recorded Rs 3.96 crore profits for the said period ending September 2023.

A few days back, DroneAcharya announced the acquisition of an export order for Defense FPV (First Person View) drones, in collaboration with its associate company Drone Entry (Thailand).

DroneAcharya made its entry into the public market in December 2022 at around Rs 100 per share and subsequently saw its peak and crossed Rs 200 in January 2023. Currently, it is trading at around Rs 182 a piece with a market cap of about Rs 430 crore or $51 million.