Ather Energy, a prominent electric scooter manufacturer, has entered the unicorn club following a successful Rs 600-crore ($71 million) funding round from its existing investor, the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF). This latest round of funding has pushed Ather’s valuation to $1.3 billion, or approximately Rs 10,900 crore.
This development marks Ather as the fourth unicorn in India this year and the second within the mobility sector, following Rapido, which recently secured $120 million in funding from WestBridge Capital, reaching a post-money valuation of $1 billion.
NIIF, India’s sovereign wealth fund, initially invested in Ather in May 2022. At that time, Ather’s valuation stood at around $740-750 million. Hero MotoCorp, Ather’s largest backer with a 40% stake, had also made a secondary investment of Rs 124 crore in June, which implied a valuation of $671 million (Rs 5,636 crore).
In April, it was reported that Ather was in the process of finalizing a $70-90 million (approximately Rs 750 crore) primary funding round from existing investors. This followed the exit of Flipkart founder Sachin Bansal, who sold his remaining stake in Ather to Zerodha founder Nikhil Kamath. Bansal had previously held around 10% of the company, where he was an early angel investor.
Ather’s new family scooter, Rizta, recently launched and is seen as a significant product for the company, which held about 9% market share in the electric scooter segment last month. Ather trails behind industry leaders like Ola Electric, Bajaj Auto, and TVS, which hold market shares of 39%, 16%, and 18%, respectively. Ather plans to manufacture the Rizta at its third plant in Aurangabad, targeting the family scooter market in western and northern India. Meanwhile, its flagship 450 series caters to the performance scooter segment.
In June, Ather Energy transitioned into a public limited company, indicating plans for an initial public offering (IPO) in the near future. Despite this, the company reported a 22% increase in losses, amounting to Rs 1,059 crore in fiscal 2024, while its revenue remained steady at around Rs 1,789 crore.
