Exclusive: Ather Energy kicks off new round with $50 Mn

Electric scooter manufacturer Ather Energy has raised Rs 400.6 crore or $50 million in a round led by existing investor Caladium Investment. This is the second equity round for the Bengaluru-based company in 2022.

The board at Ather Energy has passed a special resolution to issue 51,359 Series E1 CCPS at an issue price of Rs 78,008 per share to raise Rs 400.6 crore or $50 million, regulatory filing with the Registrar of Companies (RoC) shows.

Caladium Investment has spearheaded the round with Rs 400 crore investment while Herald Square Ventures pumped in Rs 64 lakhs. The new capital seems to be the extension of the Series E round of $128 million which was led by NIIF’s SOF and Hero MotoCorp in May this year. Ather Energy is likely to raise more money in this round and enter the unicorn club soon.

As per Fintrackr’s estimates, Ather Energy has been valued at around $750 million, post allotment. Last month, the company also raised Rs 50 crore ($6.2 million) in debt from InnoVen Capital. 

After a pandemic-laden fiscal year (FY21), the Tarun Mehta-led firm's scale surged 5X to Rs 408.5 crore in FY22 while the company booked a loss of Rs 344 crore.

The electric vehicle ecosystem is turning out to be one of the best sectors in terms of funding in 2022. Apart from $128 million in Ather and a $200 million round in Ola Electric which valued it to the tune of $5 billion, Euler, Ultraviolette, Yulu, Altigreen and River had scooped sizable rounds. According to a report prepared by Entrackr, EV-focused startups have raised more than $670 million till September 2022. This is a significant jump from $570 million in 2021 and $195 million in 2020.

Seven-year-old Ather Energy, which launched its first scooter in 2018, recorded a jump of 16% in its scooter sales to 7,435 units in September as compared to 6,410 units in the previous month. During the last month, Ola Electric witnessed a 3X spike in its sales to  9,634 units as compared to August, as per the data available on the government’s Vahan dashboard.