Ather Energy, a maker of electric two-wheelers, has reportedly obtained funding of INR 600 Cr ($71 Mn) at a post-money valuation of $1.3 Bn from current investor National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF).
After Bhavish Agarwal’s AI business Krutim AI, financial SaaS startup Perfios, and ride-hailing service Rapido, Ather is the most recent member of India’s unicorn club this year.
Ather Energy, established in 2013 by Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jainy, is a prominent participant in the electric two-wheeler industry in India. In addition to producing and maintaining electric two-wheelers, the business manages and stores electric power as well as provides other ancillary services. It also runs its own infrastructure for charging these vehicles.
The EV company had NIIF on board as an investor during its Series E round of $128 Mn alongside an existing investor Hero MotoCorp, among others.
This new capital raise follows its previous debt funding of INR 60 Cr (around $7.1 Mn) via non-convertible debentures (NCDs) from InnoVen Capital.
Also, the EV maker is eyeing a public listing by the end of this year at a valuation of around $2 Bn. In the run up to its initial public offering (IPO) launch, the startup converted into a public entity last month.
Besides the conversion into a public entity, the startup is also increasing its authorised share capital to INR 50 Cr from INR 93.6 Lakh.
The EV startup counts Hero MotoCorp, Flipkart cofounder Sachin Bansal and Zerodha cofounder Nikhil Kamath, among its investors.
Meanwhile, Ather Energy’s net loss widened 22.5% to INR 1,059.7 Cr in FY24 from INR 864.5 Cr in FY23, as per the annual report of Hero MotoCorp.
However, the startup’s revenue from operations rose 0.3% to INR 1,789.10 Cr during the year under review from INR 1,783.60 Cr in FY23.
Just last month, Bengaluru-based Rapido bagged a funding of $120 Mn (about INR 1,000 Cr) from existing investor WestBridge Capital at a post-money valuation of a little over $1 Bn, in a Series E funding round through three of its related entities – Setu AIF Trust, Konark Trust, and MMPL Trust.