Sources say Ather plans to raise ₹3,700-4,000 crore. This will be through a mix of primary and secondary share sale.
Ather’s IPO was initially planned for earlier this year, with its IPO plans getting the market regulator’s approval in the last week of December 2024. Now, the company expects market conditions to ease starting May, and is learnt to be eyeing a listing by the end of March.
Founders Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain, along with existing investors like National Investment and Infrastructure Fund Limited (NIIF) and Tiger Global Management’s Internet Fund III are set to offload part of their stakes in the IPO. However, Hero MotoCorp, which holds over 37% of Ather, will not participate in the share sale.
In its last fundraise in August 2024 in which Ather Energy raised ₹600 crores, Flipkart founder Sachin Bansal sold his stake in the company. A portion of this stake was bought by Zerodha founder Nikhil Kamath in his personal capacity. After this round, Ather Energy’s valuation was pegged at a little above ₹10,000 crores. This gave it Unicorn status.
Ather’s public issue comes at a time when India’s electric two-wheeler market is seeing signs of weakening demand. According to the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA), EV two-wheeler sales in February dropped 8% year-on-year to 76,086 units. Despite this, Ather managed to grow its sales by 20%, although its rival Ola Electric saw an even higher growth rate of 52% last year.
Ather Energy clocked revenues of ₹1,753 crores in FY24.
Ather Energy will be the second pure-play Indian EV manufacturer to go public in India, following Ola Electric’s IPO last year. Ola’s listing was a landmark moment for the sector, but its stock performance has since struggled.
Ola Electric’s shares have tumbled by as much as 65% from their peak valuation of $7.7 billion in August. This decline has raised questions about investor confidence in the Indian EV sector.
Also read: Ather Energy converts preference shares into equity, likely to launch IPO in April
(Edited by : Arvind Sukumar)
First Published: Mar 13, 2025 5:54 PM IST
