With the acquisition of $71 million from current investor National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), Bengaluru-based Ather Energy, a manufacturer of electric scooters, has joined the unicorn club.
Ather’s estimated net worth is $1.3 billion, according to people close to the company. ET broke the fundraising story first.
This allowed the business to raise more than $125 million in the previous three months. Co-founders Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain contributed over $10 million to the $34.5 million debt and equity round the company raised in May. Since then, HeroMoto MotoCorp has contributed Rs 124 crore ($15 million), and Stride has contributed Rs 60 crore ($7 million).
According to media, Ather has raised approximately $450 million so far from investors including Nikhil Kamath, Sachin Bansal, Tiger Global, and Hero MotoCorp.
According to the firm’s recent conversion to a public company, Ather looks set to go public. With this, the business takes a significant step closer to a finalized initial public offering (IPO) strategy. Ola Electric, its principal rival, had already listed on the stock exchange last week.
In FY24, Ather’s revenue from operations fell by 1.5% to Rs 1,754 crore from Rs 1,781 crore in FY23, resulting in a flat scale. The business has not yet disclosed its losses from the most recent fiscal year.
The fourth unicorn of 2024 will be Ather. Recently, the mobility company Rapido became a member of this exclusive group. In March and January, respectively, Perfios and Krutrim SI Designs became unicorns.
