BENGALURU: Tiger Global-backed startup Ather Energy will be filing its draft prospectus for an initial public offering (IPO) in the first half of the coming week with a
valuation target
of $2.5 billion (about Rs 20,985 crore), as per sources in the know.
The
electric scooter maker
was last valued at about $1.3 billion.
The Bengaluru-headquartered company is looking to raise Rs 4,500 crore through the IPO which will comprise a fresh issue and an offer for sale by existing shareholders, TOI has learnt.
The recently turned
unicorn company
has engaged
investment banks
HSBC, JPMorgan, Axis Capital, JM Financial and Nomura to manage the IPO, the sources added.
A spokesperson for Ather Energy declined TOI’s request for comment on the news, first reported by The Economic Times.
Ather, among the earliest players in lithium-ion battery-powered high-speed scooters in India, has been facing fierce competition from the likes of SoftBank-backed Ola Electric and TVS Motor.
The development comes close on the heels of Ola Electric’s IPO, which saw significant interest from its employees, retail and non-institutional investors. Also a Bengaluru-based company, it dominates sales of electric scooters in India, with 39% market share as of July. Its IPO was subscribed over four times in August, at a valuation of $4 billion.
Also in August, Ather Energy entered India’s unicorn club with a Rs 600 crore from India’s quasi-sovereign National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF). Post-funding, the company’s valuation stood at $1.3 billion, TOI had reported.
NIIF had first joined the Bengaluru-based electric scooter manufacturer’s cap table, leading a $128 million round in a Series-E round alongside Hero MotoCorp, a significant shareholder, in May 2022.
Apart from its scooters, Ather Energy also offers electric vehicle charging stations as part of its Ather Grid network. As of December 2023, it had a total of 1,600 such stations. The company was founded by Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain in 2013.
