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, as per sources in the know. The electric scooter maker was last valued at about $1.3 billion.
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.
