Counter-drone defence technology company DroneShield has upsized its capital raise by 40 per cent to $105 million as it looks to capitalise on strong demand from customers amid ongoing geopolitical tensions.
ASX-listed DroneShield — which develops non-lethal countermeasure devices for drones — last week announced a $70m capital raise via a fully underwritten placement and a $5m share purchase plan for shareholders, but on Monday said it had upsized the placement to $100m following “strong support” from domestic and international investors.
The Sydney-based listed company plans to use $80m of the funds to build up inventory to support customer opportunities, with products ranging from handheld detection and defeat systems, to its DroneSentry-X Mk2, which can be mounted on military vehicles.
The company also plans to increase its spending on artificial intelligence and machine learning.
DroneShield said it was looking to capitalise on strong momentum and favourable geopolitical environment with the use of drones continuing to headline armed conflicts globally.
It reported a record $55.1m in revenue for the 2023 financial year, up from the $16.9m in the prior year. The company also turned a profit in 2023, with profit after tax coming in at $9.3m.
Despite the positive news, DroneShield shares are stumbling back to earth, down 18.2 per cent to 9.51¢ just before 12pm on Monday.
The company noted sales pipeline was now worth over $500m with over 90 qualified projects at different stages with government customers. It has $27m in contracted sales orders currently being fulfilled.
It counts customers in the airports, maritime and vessels, military, as well as the oil, gas and mining facility and prison sectors.
“DroneShield would like to thank existing shareholders for their support, and welcome new shareholders on our register,” DroneShield chief executive Oleg Vornik said.
“We are well positioned to capitalise on the pipeline of opportunities, supported by the current tailwinds through drones being used extensively for nefarious purposes globally.”
It comes after DroneShield last week announced it was awarded the first ever counter-drone procurement agreement with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.