Ather Energy has announced a fresh investment of Rs 84 crore by Hero MotoCorp,  taking up its shareholding in the company to 34.58 percent. Prior to the investment, Hero MotoCorp’s shareholding in Ather Energy was 31.27 percent. Hero MotoCorp has been a part of Ather’s journey since 2016, when they first invested as a part of Series B.

The Bengaluru-based electric scooter manufacturer now looks to be entering an aggressive expansion phase on the back of its latest product, the Ather 450X, and aims to scale to 20 cities by the end-2021. The company says the Ather 450X, which was launched in January 2020, will soon be available in cities like Hyderabad, Pune, Delhi and Mumbai, with deliveries beginning in October 2020. To meet the projected demand in the coming years, Ather is opening a new manufacturing facility in Hosur, which is designed to produce 1,00,000 units annually, and is scalable to half a million units. The company is also looking to expand the presence of its Ather Grid fast charging stations across the country over the next five years.

In the past few weeks, Ather says it has been working on a slew of financing and ownership models, including a lease programme and exchange programme, to make its products more accessible.  

Tarun Mehta, co-founder and CEO, Ather Energy, says “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.”