India’s leading EV maker, Ather Energy has announced that it has raised funding of $128 million (around Rs 990 crore) from National Investment and Infrastructure Fund Limited’s (NIIFL) Strategic Opportunities Fund (SOF) and Hero MotoCorp. Interestingly, this is the first time when NIIFL (India’s sovereign wealth fund) has invested in an electric mobility brand.
Tarun Mehta, the co-founder and CEO of Ather Energy, has stated that this funding will be used in R&D, expanding its manufacturing facilities, developing new techs & platforms, and growing dealers’ network and charging infrastructure across the country. As of now, the brand has its reach in 32 cities with 38 touchpoints (Ather Experience Centres). It intends to cover 100 cities with 150 centers by the next year.
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Ather has received investment at a time when EV fire incidents are heightened. However, no such incident has been reported with any Ather scooter so far. And perhaps this is the reason why the demand for Ather scooters is increasing in the market. In fact, the brand registered the highest-ever monthly sales in April 2022, delivering 3,799 units to customers. The demand for the Ather 450X flagship scooter is increasing by 25 percent quarter-on-quarter and the brand is projecting a 100 percent increase in demand for its EVs in the coming months.
To date, Ather Energy has raised over Rs 1778 crores of funds, with Hero MotoCorp, Tiger Global, and Sachin Bansal (Flipkart’s co-founder) being key investors. The EV maker is planning to raise two more funds in the coming years and also preparing for an IPO (initial public offering).
Speaking of the products, Ather Energy currently has two electric scooters on sale in India: the 450 Plus and 450X. While the former costs Rs 1,18,995, the latter will set you back by Rs 1,38,005 (ex-showroom Delhi). The brand has recently upgraded both its scooters with a new SmartEco riding mode for optimized range and performance. Click here for more details.