Ather Energy ignites FY26 India Mainboard IPO season; opens the gateway again for primary markets and becomes first company out of the door in FY26
New-age company, Unicorn and India’s premier pure-play EV major Ather Energy has jump-started India’s FY26 Mainboard IPO season garnering retail investor response (around Rs. 562 crore) plus HNI-NII investor response (Rs. 309 crore) of over Rs. 871 crore amidst geopolitical turmoil and volatile stock markets.
Institutional demand was close to Rs. 2,915 crore (including anchor investor of Rs. 1,340 crore and qualified institutional oversubscription of Rs. 1,575 crore).
Retail investors putting in around 500 crores is a testimony of Ather’s credibility
The retail/HNI-NII response also reiterates the strength/equity of Ather brand and how it resonates well with retail investors as well.
Investors highlights
The response also indicates investor confidence in the long-term viability of electric mobility in India. Some of the big names such as SBI, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Sameer Arora of Helios, Franklin Templeton, Birla MF, Invesco MF, ICICI Pru and Aditya Birla Sun Life have been the anchor investors and Ather has raised upwards of 1300 crores from them.
Investors have recognised that Ather is positioned as future-ready and aligned with India’s accelerating growth story.
Ather strengths
What seems to be working in favour of Ather even in a more cautious market
As analysts pointed out Ather Energy is a beneficiary of the mega EV trend. Ather “designs and manufactures premium E2W and builds a robust charging infrastructure to accelerate India’s transition to sustainable mobility. Its premium positioning, ecosystem play like Ather stack and Ather Grid and R&D driven innovation differentiates it from competitors.”
Ather’s strong focus on vertically integrated full stack design, demonstrated by 55% of workforce in RnD, filed around 300 patents, and continued investment in RnD demonstrated by use of proceeds makes them strong long term player
Financials and Growth
Ather’s focus on unit economics makes it stand apart. The company has consistently shown improvement in their gross margin with 9MFY25 at 19% even without any reliance on PLI, which makes it promising, resilient and less dependent on government subsidies..
While the reduction of government subsidies has been a challenge for the industry,, the company has stood out compared to the competition and have further managed to improve its profitability metrics even thereby reducing subsidy dependence.
The company’s recent launches, like the Ather Rizta, have helped expand its customer base. Importantly, it has led to a leadership position in the South and unlocking new geographies in North and West India. Markets like Gujarat have seen a 4X growth in market share and there are very strong gains in large markets like Maharashtra, Orissa etc. On the back of these tailwinds, Ather is expanding its distribution aggressively driving both, width and depth of distribution.
Profit levers like new platform, distribution expansion etc
Ather has been gaining market share consistently across geographies, exiting April with around 14.5% a gain of 2.5% from March.
Key investment highlights
Ather’s ability to pioneer new technologies; Ather E2Ws are positioned at a premium price in their respective segments in the E2W market; Product portfolio diversified to cater to performance and convenience segment Vertically integrated approach to product design with strong in-house R&D capabilities; Software defined ecosystem that drives high customer engagement and drives margins; Established and scalable technology platform enabling accelerated product launches; Resilient & Derisked supply chain
Vertically integrated approach to designing our EVs Premium brand positioning across segments Capital efficient approach to business across the value chain
