[Update] Ather Energy IPO Day 2: Issue Subscribed 28% So Far

Update | April 29, 07:43 PM

EV maker Ather Energy’s IPO was subscribed 28% on the second day, led by strong interest by its employees. Of the 1 Lakh shares reserved for employees, the company’s workforce bid for 3.18 Lakh shares. 

The portion reserved for retail investors was oversubscribed 1.12X. They placed bids for 1.09 Cr shares as against the 97.34 Lakh shares reserved for them. 

Meanwhile, the interest from non-institutional investors (NIIs) also picked up by the end of the second day. After 16% subscription at the end of day one, the portion reserved for NIIs was subscribed 27% on the second day. These investors bid for 39.05 Lakh shares as against the 1.46 Cr shares reserved for them.

Original | April 29, 2:32 PM

The initial public offering (IPO) of electric mobility startup Ather Energy continues to see steady demand from investors, with the retail portion fully subscribed on the second day of the book-building process.

As of 2:06 PM, retail individual investors (RIIs) bid for 97.96 Lakh shares as against 97.34 Lakh shares reserved for them, BSE data showed. This translates to an oversubscription of 1.01X.

Overall, the issue was subscribed 0.24X, receiving bids for 1.28 Cr shares as against 5.33 Cr shares on offer.

The non-institutional investors (NIIs) category received bids for 27.84 Lakh shares as against 1.46 Cr shares on offer, translating into a subscription of 0.19X.

However, the Ather Energy IPO saw subdued demand from qualified institutional buyers (QIBs), who placed bids for only 6,992 shares as against 2.89 Cr shares on offer.

The portion reserved for employees witnessed robust demand, receiving bids for 2.84 Lakh shares as against 1 Lakh shares on offer. This translated to an oversubscription of 2.84 times.

Earlier this month, Ather Energy filed its red herring prospectus (RHP) with SEBI to raise INR 2,981 Cr through an IPO. The issue comprises a fresh issue size of INR 2,626 Cr and an offer-for-sale component of 1.10 Cr shares. 

The electric two-wheeler maker has fixed a price band of INR 304 to INR 321 for its IPO. 

Existing investor Tiger Global is set to rake in 8.33X gains on its investment in Ather after offloading 4 Lakh shares as part of the OFS, while Caladium Investment will make 1.57X gains. 

Ahead of its IPO, Ather raised INR 1,340 Cr in an anchor round led by SBI Mutual Fund.

Of the total proceeds from the IPO, Ather plans to utilise INR 927.2 Cr to set up a new electric two-wheeler manufacturing plant in Maharashtra. The EV maker has also earmarked INR 40 Cr for debt repayment, INR 750 Cr for R&D initiatives and INR 300 Cr for marketing.

Founded in 2013 by Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain, Ather Energy is renowned for its 450 Series of electric scooters, which include the Ather 450S, Ather 450X, and Ather 450 Apex. Last year, it also launched a family escooter Rizta and entered the smart helmets category. 

The Bengaluru-based startup claims to operate India’s largest EV two-wheeler fast charging network with over 4,100+ charging stations. It also manufactures its own battery packs.

It is pertinent to note that Ather Energy was the first EV two-wheeler maker to offer connected features such as a 3G sim card, touchscreen dashboard, cloud integration, among others.

Ather Energy narrowed its consolidated net loss by 26% to INR 577.9 Cr in the nine months ended December 31, 2024 (9M FY25) from INR 776.4 Cr in the year-ago period. Revenue from operations jumped 28% to INR 1,578.9 Cr in the reported period from INR 1,230.4 Cr in 9M FY24.

Ather Energy is set to become the second EV startup to go public in India after Ola Electric, which launched its INR 6,145 Cr IPO last year. Amid growing investor interest in new-age tech companies, Greaves Electric Mobility and Pure EV are also gearing up for a public listing. 

While Greaves filed draft papers with SEBI for INR 1,000 Cr+ IPO in December last year, Pure EV converted itself into a public company last month.