Ola Electric rival Ather Energy to hit Dalal Street soon; announces IPO launch date

Electric two-wheeler maker Ather Energy has announced the price band for its much-anticipated initial public offering (IPO), pegging it at Rs 304 to Rs 321 per share. The offering is scheduled to open for public subscription on April 28 and close on April 30, marking one of the first major IPOs in India’s public markets in nearly two months.

The public issue consists of a fresh issue worth Rs 2,626 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of 1.1 crore equity shares by existing shareholders, including co-founders Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain, as well as early institutional investors.

The OFS component is expected to raise approximately Rs 354.8 crore, taking the total issue size to around Rs 2,980.76 crore, down from an earlier proposed Rs 4,000 crore.

Proceeds to power expansion and R&D

The Ola Electric rival intends to deploy the capital raised toward a range of strategic priorities, including setting up a new electric two-wheeler plant in Maharashtra (Rs 927.2 crore), repaying debt (Rs 40 crore), expanding R&D (Rs 750 crore), scaling marketing efforts (Rs 300 crore), and supporting general corporate operations.

The utilisation of these funds will occur over the fiscal years 2026 to 2028. Ather is also expected to continue investing in its in-house battery technology and Atherstack, its proprietary software platform that powers features such as navigation, ride analytics, and safety.

Second pure-play EV firm to list after Ola Electric

With this IPO, Ather Energy is poised to become the second pure-play electric vehicle (EV) company in India to go public, following Bhavish Aggarwal-led Ola Electric's listing. The development is being closely watched by market participants, especially in light of a muted IPO calendar in 2025—only nine companies have tapped public markets so far this year, raising just Rs 15,722 crore, compared to Rs 1.6 lakh crore in 2024, according to Prime Database.

The anchor investor portion of Ather’s IPO will open on April 25, with listing scheduled for May 6. Axis Capital, HSBC, JM Financial, and Nomura are the book-running lead managers. Link Intime India Private Ltd is functioning as the registrar for this offering.

Growth metrics and market share

Founded in 2013, Bengaluru-based Ather Energy has built a reputation for high-performance EVs targeted at premium customers. Its product portfolio includes the Ather 450 and the recently launched Ather Rizta, with seven variants currently in the market.

The company also manufactures its own battery packs in-house using imported lithium-ion cells, while outsourcing production of other key components such as the chassis and electronics. As of December 2024, Ather held an 11% share in India’s electric two-wheeler market, which is seeing heightened activity amid policy tailwinds and consumer interest.

Despite this, the company’s distribution footprint remains heavily skewed, with nearly 48% of its experience centers in South India, contributing 68% of overall volumes. For the nine months ended December 2024, Ather reported Rs 1,578.9 crore in revenue, up from Rs 1,230.4 crore a year earlier. Notably, net loss narrowed to Rs 577.9 crore, compared to Rs 776.4 crore in the same period the previous year.