Hero MotoCorp Limited has made a strategic investment of Rs 180 crore Ather Enegry for an estimated stake of about 26-30 percent. This is the first investment in a startup by the two-wheeler major.
Ather has built country’s first smart-electric scooter called S340, which can run about 60 kms on one full charge and offers a top speed of 72 kmph.
The scooter takes about one hour to fully charge on a fast charge. It offers a 3x lighter and smaller battery packs and more powerful traction motor.
Commenting on this investment, Pawan Munjal, CMD and CEO, Hero MotoCorp said, “One of our strategic priorities is to engage with the external ecosystem, including startups in adjacent areas.”
“Ather is the best startup in the two-wheeler EV space and we firmly believe that they are on the way to become one of the leaders in India, potentially even globally. We are excited to be a strategic investor and see this as an important step in building the necessary ecosystem needed to support commercialisation of EVs in the country,” he added.
The Board of Directors, in its meeting held on October 26, 2016, approved an investment of up to Rs 205 crore, of which the immediate tranche is of Rs 180 crore.
Munjal in his personal capacity has also invested an undisclosed amount Gurgaon-based bike taxi aggregator – Rapido.Tarun Mehta, CEO and co-founder, Ather Energy said, “The funding is a strong validation of our product roadmap and technology capability, endorsed by one of the biggest global automotive players. We believe smart connected electric vehicles are the future and India will be an important global player in it.”
This new round of capital infusion will be used by the company to sustain momentum in its journey of building a future-ready product platform, and to accelerate the infrastructure and ecosystem development around electric vehicles in the country.
The company also aims at setting up a charging infrastructure in every city it will operate in-partnership with government and private enterprises.
In 2015, Ather Enegry raised USD 12 million in Series A funding from Tiger Global Management.
Flipkart founders, Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, in their personal capacity have also invested USD 1 million in the startup.harsimran.julka@network18online.com
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