Ankit Mehta and Rahul Singh are the co-founders of ideaForge, a Mumbai-based company that builds drones for various applications, including border security, surveillance, disaster management, and more.

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According to ideaForge, Mehta has extensive experience in the drone industry.ibl He is accountable for propelling business growth, devising strategies, expanding globally, and managing investor relations for the company.

Mehta, who is the CEO of the company, holds dual degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay - a Bachelor of Technology in Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Technology in Mechanical Engineering with a specialisation in Computer Aided Design and Automation.

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Mehta founded the company in 2007 with his college juniors Singh and Ashish Bhat and childhood friend Vipul Joshi.

Similarly, Rahul Singh is the Co-Founder and VP of Engineering at the company, where he spearheads innovation and defines the product and technology roadmap.

With extensive experience in the drone industry, Rahul has been with the company since its inception, as per ideaForge. He holds a Bachelor of Technology degree in Mechanical Engineering from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.

IdeaForge

IdeaForge is the top player in the Indian unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) market, boasting a majority market share and pioneering the field.

With the largest operational deployment of indigenous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in India, an ideaForge-manufactured drone takes off every five minutes to provide surveillance and mapping applications.

As of December 31, 2022, ideaForge's customers have completed over 300,000 flights using their UAVs, and they have been ranked 7th globally in the dual-use category for drone manufacturers by Drone Industry Insights in December 2022.

The company's product portfolio includes hardware such as UAVs, payloads, batteries, chargers, and communication systems, as well as software and embedded subsystems like the ground control system (GCS) software for controlling and managing UAVs, and the autopilot subsystem for remote control and autonomous flight completion.

IdeaForge's solutions also offer industry and application-specific software to enhance the value of their UAVs for end customers.

How did it all start?

The idea of building drones came to them while working on their first project, a portable solar charger.

In 2008, the team won a competition held by the US and India departments of defence in Agra in the hovering category, which brought recognition to their effort.

Soon after, they were approached by several Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) labs and civil aviation labs to deliver autopilots for their UAV programmes, which marked their journey in this space.

In 2009, ideaForge launched its first fully autonomous micro UAV, with a quadrotor configuration. Since then, the company has been delivering these systems to various police forces in India, followed by the defence and central non-police forces such as NSG, ITBP, CRPF, and BSF.

In late 2020, ideaForge received a $20 million order from the Indian Army for its SWITCH UAVs, which is a vertical takeoff and landing UAV that can operate at high altitudes and difficult climatic conditions for day and night surveillance.

Mehta said that their drones borrow mechanisms from several disciplines, including aerodynamics, aero structures, wireless communication, computer vision, mobile applications, payloads, camera, and power electronics.

The Mumbai-based company operates on business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-government (B2G) business models, supplying to government agencies and private enterprises.

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