In what is known in the industry as Series B round of financing, Ather Energy has acquired a fund amounting to USD 27 Million (approx INR 180 Crore). This will help the company to continue the engineering and production work for their upcoming S340 electric scooter. Interestingly, the primary investor of the Series B round is none other than one of India’s largest two-wheeler maker – Here MotoCorp. Along with being the primary investor here, Hero MotoCorp also happens to be first automobile veteran of Bengaluru-based company’s investor lists. Previously, the company was funded by Tiger Global and Flipkart founders – Sachin and Binny Bansal.
Ather S340 electric scooter specs revealed, features touchscreen dashboard
The Ather guys started with an aim to build India’s largest electric vehicle company and the investments help them to march towards their vision. Reportedly, Hero MotoCorp will also buy a huge stake in the EV Company.
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Hero MotoCorp has been rolling out new petrol powered bikes regularly. Speaking about their own electric vehicle plans, Hero MotoCorp had showcased their electric scooter concept at the Auto Expo that took place at Delhi NCR in February earlier this year. Dubbed as the Duet-E concept, it was the electric version of the current production series petrol powered Duet scoot. The scooter was created to satisfy the smart mobility needs of the future under the company’s ‘Greenovation’ vision.
When asked about the changes that may follow after the new funding by Hero MotoCorp, the folks at Ather expressed that both Ather and Hero have different approaches and have chartered different paths. But more importantly, the industry is just building up and should believe that start-ups like Ather will lead the change. They further added that they need to build a new narrative, a new story. Different from the one that the old world built up so admirably. Competing on parameters that the incumbents do not compete on. This new story deserves a new company.