Ather Energy enters unicorn club after raising $71M funding from NIIF
The EV-maker has become the second unicorn in the mobility space this year after ride hailing platform Rapido turned unicorn last month.
Electric two-wheeler maker has turned unicorn after raising Rs 600 crore ($71 million) from existing investor National Investment Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) in a new funding round, two sources told YourStory.
This comes days after its biggest rival Ola Electric made a strong debut on India’s stock exchanges. After the funding, Ather Energy has been valued at $1.3 billion or about Rs 10,900 crore.
The Economic Times was the first to report on this.
Ather declined to respond to YourStory’s request for comment. Email sent to NIIF did not elicit an immediate response.
According to Tracxn, the sovereign wealth fund first invested in Ather in 2022.
The company becomes a unicorn amidst heightened activity in the Indian mobility space after 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. Shares of Ola electric surpassed the Rs 100 mark apiece on Monday after opening at Rs 76 per share on August 9.
Ather had raised Rs 60 crore in debt funding from InnoVen Capital India Fund in July.
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.
Hero MotoCorp, a key investor in the company, increased its stake in the startup in June by purchasing an additional 2.2% stake for Rs 124 crore.
According to data website Tracxn, Ather reported a revenue of Rs 1,806 crore in FY22-23, up from Rs 413.9 crore in the previous year. Its losses for the same period widened to Rs 864.5 crore compared to Rs 344.1 crore in 2021-22.
(Disclaimer: the copy was updated to correct a factual error)
Edited by Megha Reddy