Ather Energy raises ₹84 crore from Hero MotoCorp

Electric vehicle startup Ather Energy on Friday said it has raised ₹84 crore from the country's largest two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp as an extension of series C round.

Hero MotoCorp has been a part of Ather's growth story since 2016, when they first invested as a part of Series B. This round is a reinstatement of confidence by existing investors in Ather's potential and success, Ather Energy said in a statement.

"We are in a high growth phase of our journey, and while the last few months have been challenging, we have not altered our expansion plans.

"Our geographic expansion and the roll-out schedule for the Ather 450X are on track, and we will be using these funds to invest in our facilities to meet the demand we have seen for the Ather 450X across the country," Ather Energy Co-founder & CEO Tarun Mehta said on the laterst fund raise.

Ather Energy said that to meet the projected demand in the coming years, it is opening a new manufacturing facility in Hosur, which is designed to produce 1 lakh units annually, and is scalable 5 lakh units.

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It will also set up "Ather Grid fast charging points" across the country over the next 5 years, making public charging easy and accessible to all electric vehicle owners.

Hero MotoCorp Head of Emerging Mobility Business Unit (EMBU), Global Business & Strategy Rajat Bhargava said the company sees immense potential in Arther Energy to expand its market even further, especially given the likely growth of electric vehicles (EV) in the near future.

"In addition to our efforts of developing a robust external eco-system for EVs, we are also aggressively working on our internal EV programme. Our aim is to provide accessible electric mobility to customers across the globe. Sustainability and a clean, green environment remain central to our vision to be the future of mobility," Bhargava added.

Ather Energy said it is now entering an "aggressive expansion phase on the back of its flagship product, Ather 450X electric scooter, and is looking to scale to 20 cities by the end of 2021".

The vehicle will soon be available in cities like Hyderabad, Pune, Delhi and Mumbai, with deliveries beginning in October 2020.