Flipkart's Bansal leads $51m round for India EV player

Bansal, who backed the company as an angel investor in 2014, has agreed to contribute $32 million to the round. Hero MotoCorp, India’s largest two-wheeler maker and also an existing investor, will provide the remaining $19 million by converting previously acquired debt instruments into equity. Separately, InnoVen Capital has extended a $8 million venture debt package.

Founded in 2014, Ather claims to be India’s first smart EV manufacturer. The company focuses on scooters and launched its flagship model last year in Bengaluru and is now taking pre-orders in Chennai. Services include monthly payment options as low as INR2,517 ($31), post-sale and roadside services, doorstep pickup, and a range of internet-enabled diagnostics and driving-related features.

Expansion plans include a new factory with capacity to produce one million vehicles a year and a sales presence in 30 cities nationwide by the end of 2023. An existing network of 38 recharging points, including 31 in Bengaluru and seven in Chennai, is planned to be expanded to 6,500 across the country within five years. This is expected to require an investment of about $18.6 million.

“I am convinced that the ecosystem that Ather is building with their products is the future of urban mobility,” Bansal said in a statement. “Their focus on end-to-end customer experience will open up new revenue opportunities and accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles in India.”

Ather raised about $31 million in 2016 from Hero MotoCrop and $12 million the prior year from Tiger Global Management. Other investors include Medall Healthcare, which contributed to a $1 million seed round alongside Bansal. 

India has recently overtaken China as the largest two-wheeler market in the world with some estimates indicating as many as 37 million motorcycles, scooters and mopeds are on the road across the country. Scooters represent about one-third of the two-wheeler market. Sales grew by 20% during the 2018 financial year, compared to 14% for normal motorcycles, according to research by HDFC Bank.

Due to their simpler design and lower price point, two-wheelers enjoy a natural scaling advantage of versus cars that is expected to result in relatively faster electrification of the segment. Tarun Mehta, CEO and co-founder of Ather, told AVCJ last year that the Indian two-wheeler space was set to flip from a petrol-dominant market to an EV-dominant market in 3-4 years.    

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Cleantech
• Early-stage
• India
• Transportation
• automobiles
• manufacturing
• Innoven Capital