The archive · Hardware & Devices · Financial decision · 2013–2025
Ather's premium-EV bet lists after ₹2,981 crore IPO — flat, at a 2% premium
Two IIT graduates bet India's two-wheeler market would go electric; 12 loss-making years later their in-house scooter maker IPO'd and listed flat
Ather Energy
What the business is
Bengaluru electric two-wheeler maker that designs and assembles scooters (Ather 450, Rizta), battery packs, charging infrastructure and software in-house
How it started
Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain, engineering graduates of IIT Madras, founded Ather Energy in 2013, initially working on EV batteries before moving into electric scooters. Hero MotoCorp became the largest shareholder at about 40%, and Tiger Global backed the company as it kept building.
What happened
Ather stayed loss-making for over a decade: it reported a ₹578 crore loss in the nine months to December 2024, narrower than ₹776 crore a year earlier, helped by the family-oriented Rizta launched in 2024. It cut the IPO size before pricing at ₹304–321 per share; the ₹2,981 crore issue (₹2,626 crore fresh equity plus an offer for sale) was subscribed 1.43x, with retail at 1.78x and institutions at 1.70x.
How it ended up
Listed on 6 May 2025: shares opened at ₹328 on the NSE (2.18% premium) and ₹326.05 on the BSE — a flat debut below the ~4% grey-market expectation, at a post-listing market cap of about ₹12,144 crore. Proceeds were earmarked for a new Maharashtra factory, R&D, debt repayment and marketing; the CEO guided to better FY26 volume growth.
Background
Ather Energy is the Bengaluru company that bet India's biggest vehicle market — two-wheelers — would go electric, and that the winner would be built from scratch in India rather than assembled from imported parts. Founded in 2013 by IIT Madras graduates Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain, it designs and builds scooters (Ather 450 and Rizta), battery packs, charging infrastructure and software in-house, with Hero MotoCorp as its largest shareholder at about 40%.
The bet took more than a decade to reach public markets. Ather lost money for years — ₹578 crore in the nine months to December 2024, narrower than ₹776 crore a year earlier, helped by the family-oriented Rizta launched in 2024. In April–May 2025 it went public with a ₹2,981 crore IPO (₹2,626 crore fresh equity plus an offer for sale), priced at ₹304–321 per share, subscribed 1.43x with retail at 1.78x and institutions at 1.70x.
On 6 May 2025 the stock listed at ₹328 on the NSE, a 2.18% premium — a flat debut below the ~4% grey-market expectation — valuing the company at about ₹12,144 crore. Proceeds were earmarked for a new Maharashtra factory, R&D, debt repayment and marketing; CEO Tarun Mehta said he expected FY26 volume growth to beat what the company saw in the first nine months of FY25.
Ather became the second pure-play Indian EV maker to go public, after Ola Electric's ₹6,145 crore IPO in August 2024 — and the contrast framed the listing: analysts called Ather's issue aggressively priced, especially against Ola Electric's underwhelming post-listing performance.
What has to be true
- India's two-wheeler market is one of the world's largest, so its electrification is a mass-market opportunity, not a niche
- Building batteries, scooters and software in-house created a moat versus import-and-assemble rivals, but made the company capital-hungry and slow
- Hero MotoCorp's ~40% stake gave distribution and credibility while the company was still loss-making
- The flat IPO showed investors wanted proven scale and margins after Ola Electric's weak post-listing performance
What can be applied
Premium build-from-scratch bets take over a decade to prove and stay loss-making until the category matures; a flat IPO shows the market prices proof of scale, not just a good product.
Aftermath
As of 6 May 2025, Ather is a listed company trading roughly flat with its issue price at a market cap of about ₹12,144 crore. It remains loss-making but narrowing, plans to use IPO proceeds for its Maharashtra plant, R&D, debt repayment and marketing, and management expects FY26 volume growth to improve. It is the second pure-play Indian EV maker to list, after Ola Electric.
Sources
- From battery dreams to EV giant: The Ather Energy story
- Ather Energy Listing: First mainboard IPO of FY26 debuts at 2% premium
- Ather Energy shares make subdued market debut, list at 2% premium to IPO price on NSE
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