Sachin Bansal, the co-founder of Flipkart, has divested his remaining 7.5 percent ownership in Ather Energy, an electric scooter manufacturer. This was first reported by the Economic Times.
Bansal sold 2.2 percent of his stake to Hero MotoCorp, a two-wheeler manufacturer, for Rs 124 crore and the remaining percentage to Nikhil Kamath, co-founder of Zerodha. Bansal has been an early investor in Ather Energy. Since 2014, he has invested around Rs 400 crore in the company.
Tarun Mehta, the CEO and co-founder of Ather Energy, went to Bansal in 2014 to ask for investment. Following this, Bansal invested $0.5 million in Ather Energy.
Speaking about Bansal’s investment, Mehta said in an interview with the Economic Times, “He had a lot of conviction in what we were doing. Many in his place would not have invested if an entrepreneur were to start by saying that we are having trouble fundraising.”
With a one percent stake, Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal is also a part of the company. Meanwhile, Hero MotoCorp acquired the recent shareholding at an implied value of Rs 5,636 crore. This exceeded the Rs 4,666 crore valuation when the company invested Rs 140 crore in Ather last December. As per the report, based on this new valuation, the 5 percent remaining stake that Bansal sold to Kamath would be valued at around Rs 282 crore.
This comes at a time when Ather Energy is finalizing plans to raise $75–90 million in primary funding from new and existing investors, as per a report by the Economic Times. The funding round is likely to be led by an investor.
Meanwhile, Ather has reported its FY24 results. The company reported consolidated revenue of Rs 1,753.8 crore. It was Rs 1,780.9 crore a year ago during the same period. Bengaluru-based Ather Energy is engaged in designing, manufacturing, producing, selling, servicing, software development, and software management in relation to electric automobiles and charging infrastructure.
The company is also engaged in the storage, distribution, and management systems of electric power (including energy in the form of batteries) and other ancillary services.
(With inputs from PTI)
