Hero MotoCorp owns 40.89% of Ather Energy on a fully diluted basis. The two closely collaborate on things like charging infrastructure, setting up 2,000 fast-charging points across 200 cities this fiscal year.
In late June, Ather Energy converted itself into a public limited company as part of plans for a public listing in the near future. The company has reportedly been engaging with investment banks for a potential initial public offering (IPO) sometime next year and picked HSBC, JPMorgan and Nomura, among others, to handle the listing process, Bloomberg had reported on March 5.
Meanwhile, Hero MotoCorp recently picked up an additional 2.2% stake in the firm for Rs 124 crore from Flipkart cofounder Sachin Bansal, as he sold his his remaining 7.5% stake in the company, ET had reported on June 7. The rest of Bansal’s stake was bought out by Zerodha cofounder Nikhil Kamath.
In May, the firm had raised Rs 286 crore ($34 million) from its founders and Stride Ventures in a mix of debt and equity funding.
Discover the stories of your interest
The investments are part of Ather’s plan to raise $75-90 million (about Rs 750 crore) in primary funding from new and existing investors, with the funding round likely to be led by an existing investor, which might value the firm between $850 million and $1 billion, ET had reported on April 23.Ather had postponed its funding plans last year citing poor market conditions. Instead, it raised Rs 900 crore in September 2023 from Hero MotoCorp and GIC through a rights issue.
National Investment and Infrastructure Fund and Tiger Global are among its other investors. Ather competes with the likes of Ola Electric, TVS and Bajaj in the electric scooter segment.