Electric scooter maker Ather Energy has raised $50 million, led by existing backer Caladium Investment, regulatory filings sourced through business intelligence platform Tofler showed.

Herald Square Ventures also participated in the latest funding round.

According to reports, the company has been valued at $700-800 million after the round.

Reports suggest that, the latest round is extension of its $128 million fund raise in May, which was led by India's sovereign wealth fund National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) and Hero MotoCorp.

The company will use the fresh capital to scale up its manufacturing capacity as demand for electric vehicles

has jumped this year. Its second manufacturing facility, which has the capacity to make 400,000 units a year, is ready to start production.

The company’s current annual revenue run rate for FY23 is over Rs 1,000 crore. This is more than a double the Rs. 408 crore revenue for FY22, which was five times its revenue in the previous financial year.

The company has already started talks with different stakeholders to set up a third manufacturing facility. The company launched a new variant of its 450x scooter in July with a bigger battery.

The latest funding comes amid intensifying competition in the electric two-wheeler space. Hero MotoCorp, Ather’s biggest investor, unveiled its first electric scooter on October 7.

The government is also making it mandatory for EV two-wheelers to go through more rigorous testing standards after more than a dozen vehicles caught fire during the summer.

Meanwhile, electric vehicle companies are also facing the heat for claiming the Rs 10,000 crore Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid and) Electric Vehicles in India (FAME)-II subsidy without sourcing the required number of components locally.