Rs 900 crore raised by Ather Energy from GIC, Hero MotoCorp

Ather Energy, which manufactures electric scooters, has raised Rs 900 crore from existing investors Hero MotoCorp and GIC through a right issue.

The development comes close on the heels of Ather Energy entering into an agreement to raise Rs 550 crore from Hero MotoCorp.

The funding will allow Ather to expand its product portfolio while expanding its footprint, the company said in a statement. The Singapore-based sovereign fund is investing Rs 350 crore in the fresh round.

This is the second largest funding round for the Bengaluru-based company which had raised 128 million US dollars in its Series E round in May last year. Credibility management firm The credible estimated that the firm was valued at $750 million during Series E round.

The company was all set to enter the unicorn club with a new round. However, it chose to raise via the right issue rather than equity fundraising.

Ather is the third largest e-scooter maker by volume as it sold 6,835 units in August. Ola Electric is the numero uno player in the space with 29.31% market share followed by TVS which sold 14,584 units in August.

Ather also increased its retail footprint by fourfold to 130 stores from 30 stores last year. Currently, it claims to have over 200 retail touchpoints across more than 100 cities and has fast-charging networks for electric two-wheelers with over 1,500 company-branded grids.

Ather’s revenue from operations flew 4.4X to Rs 1806.1 crore in FY23 from Rs 413.8 crore while the company’s losses shot up 151.2% to Rs 864.5 crore, according to disclosure accessed through NSE filing.
Ather’s closest competitor Ola Electric has raised around $800-900 million in equity and debt funding and was valued at over $5 billion during the last round.