Ather Energy IPO Is Set For Launch, Albeit At A Smaller Size

The initial public offering of Ather Energy Ltd. is finally here, albeit at a smaller size.

The Ather Energy IPO will open for subscription on April 28 and close on April 30, according to the red herring prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Board of India on Tuesday. The anchor placement is slated for April 25.

The offering comprises a fresh issue of shares worth Rs 2,626 crore, as against Rs 3,100 crore mentioned in the DRHP filed in September. It includes an offer-for-sale of 11,051,746 shares, which is nearly half of 22,000,766 offered in the DRHP. According to NDTV Profit calculations, the IPO size could be a little less than Rs 3,000 crore. The valuation is seen at about Rs 12,000 crore.

While co-founders Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain are participating in the IPO, offloading nearly a million shares each, largest shareholder Hero MotoCorp Ltd. is still abstaining.

Ather Energy will be the first mainboard IPO of FY26, as the stock market is finally showing some signs of recovery after months of correction. It would be a test of investor appetite, nonetheless, given the convulsions at BluSmart (Gensol Engineering Ltd.) and Ola Electric Mobility Ltd.

Still, Mehta and Jain would take confidence from the surge in sales seen of late.

Ather Energy’s sales rose 20% year-on-year to 1,30,913 units in FY25, even as the wider electric two-wheeler industry grew 58% but market leader Ola Electric slumped. That gave the Bengaluru-based startup a market share of 11.4% in FY25 as against 11.5% in FY24.

Founded in 2013, Ather was a college project of IIT Madras graduates Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain. The first scooter broke cover only in 2018, as the duo chose to fix the nuts and bolts, and watts and volts, of the product before a commercial launch. The second offering, the Rizta family scooter, came only last year, opening new geographies for the South India-focused EV maker.