Ather Energy, a Bangalore-based start-up on Friday said it has received $12 million in funding from Tiger Global.
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The company, which is currently designing an electric two-wheeler, said that the money raised will be used for development, testing, production and the launch of Ather’s first smart electric two-wheeler – the Ather S340.
Commenting on the fund raise Tarun Mehta, CEO and co-founder of Ather Energy said, “Ather Energy aims to build smart, connected electric vehicles of the future. We want to offer the Indian consumer a completely new driving experience by developing a product that would be at par with any petrol or electric two-wheelers available in the market today. This investment will help us continue to evolve our product and scale it towards launch. We are very excited with the interest shown by Tiger Global and all our investors.”
The company had received its first seed fund of $1 million in late 2014 from Flipkart founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal and Raju Venkatraman of Medall Healthcare, which provided the initial impetus for Ather’s growth plans.
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The company electric two-wheeler Ather-S340 is a connected vehicle powered by lithium-Ion battery pack, featuring a digital touchscreen dashboard, has a light-weight aluminium chassis and offers a top speed of 75 kmph.
“It has been designed by Ather from ground-up and will be the first electric scooter to be completely designed & manufactured in India. Some of the features in the smart dashboard will enable users to create personalized profiles, choose riding modes and set other ride preferences,”the company said.
The Ather-S340 is planned for launch in Bangalore, Chennai and Delhi by early 2016. Ather Energy is the brainchild of IIT-Madras graduates Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain.