Flipkart Founders Invest $1M In Ather, An Electric Vehicle Startup

Flipkart Founders seem to be slowly turning into angel investors (and why not, they are playing in Billions, a few crore rupees of seed funding here and there is chump change for them) and it is great for Indian startup ecosystem – A very successful startup that has money are feeding up new and upcoming startups! This is their 5th startup investment in past year or so…

Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal have invested $1 Million (about 6.1 Crore rupees) in Ather, an electric vehicle startup who are designing and developing high speed electric 2 wheelers focused on Indian Markets. The seed funding round also included investment from Chennai based Raju Venkatraman, a serial entrepreneur himself and CEO of MEDALL.

Started by Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain in 2013, Ather was incubated and supported by the incubation cell at IIT Madras. Ather currently has a team of 15 engineers and designers who are currently working on making the best electric vehicle for Indian conditions.

Tarun Mehta, one of the founders of Ather said, “We are very excited about this fresh round of funding. Sachin and Binny Bansal are leaders who have put India’s e-commerce industry on the global map through disruptive use of technology.  Their focus on technology and reinvention aligns with that of Team Ather.  Electric vehicles are still at a very nascent stage in India and our aim is to develop and introduce efficient electric scooters that will benefit the country and help manage its resources more effectively. We are extremely confident about this product and this funding is a reinforcement of our belief.”

Flipkart Founders jointly said, “We believe that the world is moving towards a smarter, more energy-efficient and environment-friendly approach in our daily lives. Growing Indian start-ups like Ather are using technology successfully to make a mark in this field. We believe the team has the right vision and approach and will be successful in giving India the next generation of impactful, technology-enabled products that will change the way we live. We wish team Ather all the best for this project.”

More on Ather Electric Scooter

Ather’s vision is to come up with the best electric scooter in the country and not just yet another electric vehicle. And from the glimpse of the scooter they have given on their website, it sure seems to be one of the best looking with some real killer features.

Ather is currently at a advanced stage of development where the new prototype they have developed has validated most important engineering specifications that will go into the bike. They have come up with a new dashboard, that’s unlike any other you would have seen on Indian bikes. Here is a look at the dashboard.

Ather Electric scooter has some great features to boot as well.

• Boasts of top speed of 75 kmph
• It is 20% lighter than current petrol scooters
• It has inbuilt navigation and theft prevention (wow!)
• Users can get historical usage data
• And yes, it can go from 0-60 kmph in 11 seconds

Ather will soon be starting test drives on their prototypes in Chennai and Bangalore. The scooter will be launched in 2016.