Bengaluru based start-up Ather Energy, which is currently designing a smart electric two-wheeler, has received funding of $12 million from Tiger Global.
The new round of funding will be used for development, testing, production and the launch of Ather’s first smart electric two-wheeler – the Ather S340.
Ather had received its first seed fund of $1 million in late 2014 from Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, founders of Flipkart, and Raju Venkatraman of Medall Healthcare, which provided the initial impetus for Ather’s growth plans.
“Ather Energy aims to build smart, connected electric vehicles of the future. We want to offer the Indian consumer a completely new driving experience by developing a product that would be at par with any petrol or electric two-wheelers available in the market today. This investment will help us continue to evolve our product and scale it towards launch. We are very excited with the interest shown by Tiger Global and all our investors”, said Tarun Mehta, CEO and co-founder of Ather Energy.
Ather is currently at an advanced stage of integration on the vehicle platform and testing of the functional prototype. Test rides are scheduled for October this year and the company is already seeing an increasing number of sign-ups for the same on their website. The Ather S340 is planned for launch in Bengaluru, Chennai and Delhi by early 2016.
Ather Energy is the brainchild of IIT-Madras graduates Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain.