Ather Energy raises Rs 900 Cr from GIC and Hero MotoCorp

Electric scooter manufacturer Ather Energy has raised Rs 900 crore from existing investors Hero MotoCorp and GIC through right issue. Earlier this week, Ather already entered into an agreement to raise Rs 550 crore from Hero MotoCorp.

The funding will allow Ather to expand its product portfolio while expanding its footprint, the company said in a statement. The Singapore-based sovereign fund is investing Rs 350 crore in the fresh round.

This is the second largest funding round for the Bengaluru-based company which scooped up $128 million in its Series E round in May last year. As per TheKredible, the firm was valued at $750 million during Series E round.

The company was all set to enter the unicorn club with a new round. However, it chose to raise via right issue rather than equity fundraise.

Ather is the third largest e-scooter maker by volume as it sold 6,835 units in August. Ola Electric is the numero uno player in the space with 29.31% market share followed by TVS  which sold 14,584 units in August.

Ather also increased its retail footprint by fourfold to 130 stores from 30 stores last year. Currently, it claims to have over 200 retail touchpoints across more than 100 cities and has fast-charging networks for electric two-wheelers with over 1,500 company-branded grids.

Ather’s revenue from operations flew 4.4X to Rs 1806.1 crore in FY23 from Rs 413.8 crore while the company’s losses shot up 151.2% to Rs 864.5 crore, according to disclosure accessed through NSE filing. 

Ather’s closest competitor Ola Electric has raised around $800-900 million in equity and debt funding and was valued at over $5 billion during the last round. Scale wise, Ola Electric posted Rs 373 crore in operating revenue during FY22 with a loss of Rs 784 crore. 

While Ola Electric is yet to file its audited financial report for FY23, a Reuters report recently said that the company recorded $136 million (Rs 1,100 crore) loss in FY23 with a revenue of $335 million (Rs 2,700 crore).