Ather energy: Two IIT Madras Graduates Electrifying smart scooters

How Ather Energy is revolutionising the lifeblood of private transportation

Tarun Mehta | 28
Swapnil Jain | 28
Co-founders, Ather Energy

When IIT Madras graduates Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain started Ather Energy in 2013, they were betting that “electric vehicles were inevitable,” recalls Mehta. Now, the duo has a close-to-commercial electric scooter, called the Ather 340, which they hope to start selling later this year.

Tarun says,

“During my graduation, I frequently interacted with electric scooter owners. Most of them expressed concerns over negligible power, lack of service support, and poor battery life.”

An initial survey gave the duo insight into how consumers are excited about an electric scooter that is on par in terms with petrol scooters in terms of performance.

It will take an hour to charge on a 15 ampere point, do a top speed of about 70 kmph and have a range of 70-80 km on a single charge. It will likely be priced between a Honda Activa and a 125cc Vespa.

A working prototype—and a sleek looking one at that—was ready as early as two years ago, but the decision to design and engineer one from scratch means progress has  been slower than CEO Mehta and CTO Jain anticipated. For instance, finding people with “enough exposure to new product development or exposure to electric vehicles has been a challenge,” says Jain.

Funding phase

Ather Energy was lucky enough to win its first set of orders at the prototype stage, which worked as a catalyst to raise funds. In 2014, it received Rs 45 lakh from the Technology Development Board under Department of Science and Technology, IIT Madras, and Srini V Srinivasan, IIT alumnus and founder of Aerospike.

In the second half of 2014, the startup was again running short of funds as it was in its testing phase. Tarun says that investors weren’t willing to take a risk on the idea of building a smart electric scooter for the Indian market.

Post a lot of rejection, both Tarun and Swapnil approached the founders of Flipkart – Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal -who believed in the idea and invested $1 million in Ather Energy in December 2014. This funding round also saw the participation of Raju Venkatraman, serial entrepreneur and CEO of MEDALL.

In May 2015, the startup scooped up a fund of $12 million from Tiger Global. The new round of funding has been used for development, testing, production and the launch of the Ather S340.

Swapnil says,

The majority of our resources are allocated for design and development. Our intention is not just to build a better electric vehicle, but to offer a better two-wheeler. Apart from the battery pack, we have also designed and developed key sub-systems like the fast charger, BMS and a touchscreen dashboard.”

Swapnil looks after system design and development. As an essential part of the Formula SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) team of IIT-M, he has led various product development projects.

Manufacturing base

Ather Energy is in the process of opening up its first manufacturing plant in Whitefield. Additionally, it has its design centre in Victoria Road. Since 2013, the team of Ather Energy has expanded from 10 to 90. The product development team has 70 members, while the remaining 20 are in sales and support services, HR, finance and business operations.

We are currently in the final prototype stage. The fully integrated vehicle is currently under testing and validation, following which we will proceed for statutory approvals. Significant electronics integration and testing will be our focus area in 2016. Our procurement team is already working with the appropriate partners to ensure that we source quality components,” says Tarun.

They have made significant strides though, including putting together a critical mass of 250 engineers, and finding a deep-pocketed backer in Hero Motors. They have a factory ready, which will initially make a few thousand scooters, but has the capacity for a much larger run—eventually about 30,000 scooters a year. A showroom is also being put together in Bengaluru. And to date they’ve raised about $43 million in funding. 

“Two-wheelers are the lifeblood of private transportation in the country,” says Amit Somani, managing partner at Prime Venture Partners. “To build a smart, electric, green two-wheeler is audacious in thought and action for anyone, let alone a young under-30 team. It could be transformative for the landscape in India and eventually emerging markets around the world.”