EV Maker Ather Energy Ventures into Nepal By CIOTechOutlook Team

EV Maker Ather Energy Ventures into Nepal

CIOTechOutlook Team | Tuesday, 10 October 2023, 02:25 IST

Tarun Mehta, cofounder and CEO of Bengaluru-based Ather Energy, announced the company's entry into Nepal on social networking site X. "So far, our scooters have zipped across Indian roads wearing green number plates." Soon, they'll be wearing new ones when they race across Nepal's hills and valleys," Mehta wrote.

Tiger Global-backed EV startup Ather has received Rs 900 crore in capital from two-wheeler manufacturer Hero MotoCorp and Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC, both of which are already owners in the company. According to statistics from market intelligence platform Tracxn, Hero is also Ather's top stakeholder, with a 34.2% holding prior to the recent investment.

Nikhil Kamath, cofounder of online stock brokerage Zerodha, is set to join Ather Energy’s cap table with a fresh investment in the firm. While it isn’t clear how much Kamath will invest in Ather that the transaction would be made through a secondary share sale, and that the deal is nearing completion, as per economic times.

As per Tracxn, Ather was last valued at $739 million following a $50 million fundraise last October. According to media sources, the company planned to seek another $250 million this year at a $1.3 billion valuation, but delayed the plan amid a larger tech financing slowdown and a sales drop following the removal of the government subsidies for electric vehicles in June.

According to Vahan, the government's automotive registration portal, Ather sold 6,835 units in August, while its younger rival Ola Electric remains the country's largest seller of electric scooters, accounting for 17,389 of the more than 59,000 electric two-wheelers sold in August.