Electric two-wheeler maker Ather Energy has turned unicorn after raising ₹600 crore ($71 million) from existing investor National Investment Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) in a new funding round, according to sources.

NIIF, the Indian sovereign wealth fund, first invested in Ather in May 2022.

The electric mobility space in India has seen a surge in investment activity — the Hyderabad-based ride-hailing app Rapido became a unicorn last month and the successful listing of Bhavish Aggarwal-led Ola Electric on Indian stock exchanges.

On July 16, auto and taxi ride-hailing app Namma Yatri raised its maiden funding of $11 million at a $55-million valuation, in a round led by Blume Ventures and Antler India with participation from US tech major Google.

Ather’s last round

The two-wheeler electric scooter maker was last valued at around $740-750 million in 2022. Hero MotoCorp – its largest backer with a 40 per cent shareholding – had invested ₹124 crore into the firm in a secondary transaction in June at an inferred valuation of $671 million.

The company aims to file for its initial public offering (IPO) and has converted from a private company to a public limited company in June this year. It has appointed HSBC Holdings, Nomura Holdings, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. to help with the IPO, according to reports.

Ather has also launched its new family scooter Rizta, which it recently started delivering. The firm’s loss widened over 22 per cent to ₹1,059 crore in FY24 even as its revenue remained flat at around ₹1,789 crore.

Published on August 13, 2024