Ather Energy, the Bengaluru based company known for its range of electric scooters has been gradually expanding its presence in the country, with Chennai being the second city after Bengaluru. Today, the company raised an investment of $51 million in its latest round of funding, led by Flipkart’s co-founder Sachin Bansal’s investment of $32 million.
When Sachin Bansal invested $0.5 million in the company as an Angel investor in 2014, Ather Energy was one of the earliest start-up investments for him.
As a part of this round, Hero MotoCorp has converted its Convertible Debt of $19 million and additionally, InnoVen Capital has extended an $8 million venture debt.
The company also plans to set up a new manufacturing facility which will be designed to produce 1 million vehicles a year and also set up 6500 Ather Grid fast charging points across the country over the next 5 years with an investment of Rs. 130 crores.
Last year, Ather Energy opened pre-orders for Ather 450 in Bengaluru and began delivering the scooters in September 2018. But, they have an order backlog of about five months and the company plans to utilize this fund for expansion of capacity to 25000 units per annum and also add 3 or 4 cities as a part of their business expansion.
Ather Energy will be opening pre-orders in Chennai in the coming weeks and eventually scaling to 30 cities by the end of 2023.
Commenting on this, Tarun Mehta, Co-founder & CEO, Ather Energy said:
Electric vehicles are here to stay and Ather is playing a leading role in driving this change. Sachin has been part of our growth journey and this investment is a strong endorsement of the momentum we’ve built over these years. Post the successful
launch in Bengaluru, we are eager to reach out to consumers in other cities and to build more products that will excite consumers to switch to electric vehicles. The changing landscape of personal transport has also offered us more opportunities and you will hear about the new business models that we are investing in very soon
Sachin Bansal said:
The traditional auto industry is up for a redefinition. Watching Ather closely since my early investment in 2014, I am convinced that the ecosystem that Ather is building with their products is the future of urban mobility. Their focus on end to end customer experience will open up new revenue opportunities and accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles in India. The future is electric and I am excited to be a part of this journey in shaping the future.