Tuesday, 13 August 2024, Bengaluru, India
Ather Energy is a two-wheeler electric vehicle manufacturing company that secured $71 million from the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund in its new funding round. This round reported the valuation of the firm at $1.3 billion making Ather Energy join the 106 other unicorns in India. Entrackr reported. The funding round had the participation of existing investors. Ather Energy is the fourth unicorn in India this year.
The company plans to use these fresh proceeds for meeting general corporate purposes, working capital purposes, and market expansion. The startup specializes in offering electric two-wheelers in the EV market. The startup manufactures electric scooters with fast and intelligent manufacturing across the country. The company secured $34.5 million in its debt and equity round from Stride Ventures. The startup secured around $431 million across 18 funding rounds since its inception. The data intelligence platform, traxcn reported a post-money valuation of $524 million for September 2023. The development came just after the Indian EV market saw increased investor interest.
The company earns the majority of its revenue through sales of its scooters and from after-sale and subscription-based services. The startup develops innovative two-wheeler EV solutions. Ather Energy had NIIF on the board as an investor during its $128 million series E funding round with Hero MotoCorp. The development came just after the company secured $7.1 million from Innoven Capital through its non-convertible debentures. The company plans to file for public listing at a valuation of $2 billion by the end of this year. The firm will use some of its investment on public listing.
The startup had a 0.3 percent increase in its operation revenue to Rs 1,789.10 crore while the loss increased by 22.5 percent to Rs 1,059.7 crore in FY24. Despite the financial losses, the company achieved impressive sales numbers and maintained a positive margin. In contrast, deals for electric scooters dropped a little. The company plans to reduce its net losses by reducing employee benefits and controlling manufacturing operations. The EV startup faces competition from other companies in the same segment such as Simple Energy, and Ola Electric Mobility. The investment shows the trust of NIIF in Ather Energy’s market potential and business model
Conclusion:
Ather Energy is an Electric Vehicle startup that offers innovative EV solutions. The startup turned unicorn after securing the fresh capital of $71 million in a funding round from NIIF. The firm reported a valuation of $1.3 billion during this round. The funding round had participation from several investors. The company plans to use this amount to scale up its operations, market expansion, expand its offerings, and advance its technology. After this round, Ather Energy became the fourth startup to turn unicorn this year and the second electric mobility unicorn. The startup plans to go public this year when it reaches a valuation of $2 billion. Ather Energy faces competition from other two-wheeler manufacturers such as Simple Energy, Hero Electric, and Ola Electric Mobility.
