Ather Energy has raised funds to the tune of $35 million in a funding round led by Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal’s investment of $23 million. Besides Bansal, Hero MotoCorp has also invested $12 million as a part of the Series D round in the EV startup. This investment will allow Ather Energy to accelerate its expansion plans and speed up the deliveries of its electric scooter, Ather 450X. It was one of the earliest start-up investments of Bansal, who chipped in as an angel investor with $0.5 million funds in the firm in 2014. Bansal’s total investment now stands at $53 million.
Tarun Mehta, co-founder & CEO, Ather Energy, said, “Electric vehicles are here to stay and Ather Energy 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 of our new product line, we are now looking forward to delivering the vehicles and seeing them across all cities. The pandemic has changed the landscape of personal transport and we hope that with high performance alternatives available people will choose electric vehicles for their daily commute.”
With Ather 450X and Ather 450 Plus e-scooter models in its product portfolio, the company has been aggressively expanding, with the opening of nine new markets – Pune, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Coimbatore, Kochi, Kozhikode and Kolkata in the coming days, and the installation of Ather Grid in all the new cities. To meet the projected demand in the coming years, Ather is moving to a new manufacturing facility in Hosur, Tamil Nadu, which will be designed to produce up to 1 million vehicles a year.
The EV maker also unveiled its collector’s edition vehicle Series 1, the only two wheeler with transparent panels in India. The Series 1 vehicle has been designed for early owners of the vehicle with only a limited group eligible to purchase.
