Electric Vehicle maker Ather Energy has raised Rs 286 crore ($34 million) through a mix of debt and equity, largely through venture debt, and through co-founders, as it prepares to go public by 2025.
Venture debt firm Stride Ventures has invested close to Rs 200 crore via debentures, while co-founders of the company Tarun Sanjay Mehta and Swapnil Jain pumped in Rs 43.28 crore each via Series F preference shares, regulatory filings accessed from startup data firm Kredible showed.
Entracker reported the developments first.
Ather will likely use the funds for new product launch and expansion of its charging infrastructure as well as retail dealership network, sources told Moneycontrol.
The funding round comes nine months after the firm announced raising Rs 900 crore from existing investors Hero MotoCorp and GIC through a rights issue.
The fundraising was an extension of the Series E round of $128 million which was announced in May 2022, led by National Investment and Infrastructure Fund's (NIIF) Strategic Opportunities Fund (SOF) and Hero MotoCorp along with additional investors in May this year.
As per industry sources, Ather was last valued at $700 million.
The filing shows that the funding was approved by the board during an EGM conducted on May 28th.
Ather is looking to tap the public market by 2025 and has picked HSBC Holdings Plc, Nomura Holdings Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. to help arrange its initial public offering.
Founded in 2013 by IIT Madras graduates Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain, Ather Energy has till date sold over 1.73 lakh electric scooters and is backed by HeroMoto Corp, Tiger Global and GIC.
As of April 2024, Ather is among the top four electric scooter manufacturers in India along with Ola Electric, TVS and Bajaj Auto.
The EV maker reported a consolidated operating revenue of Rs 1,784 crore, up nearly 337 percent for the financial year 2023, even as its losses mounted nearly 150 percent to Rs 864 crore.
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