Ather’s upcoming IPO will cause a windfall for the company’s founders, employees and investors, but an educational institution will make bank too.
IIT Madras will make an estimated Rs. 50 crore from the Ather IPO. Ather had been incubated at IIT Madras all the way back in 2013. The resultant stake will be worth nearly Rs. 50 crore when the company goes public.
Ather founders Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain were graduates of IIT Madras. They’d wanted to build an electric scooter, but it wasn’t easy to build a hardware startup in the real world right after college. So after graduating, they’d returned to their alma mater to leverage its resources, mentorship, and research facilities. They worked as project associates at IIT Madras, developed early prototypes, and formally incubated Ather at the IIT Madras Research Park in 2013. This incubation provided them with critical support in the form of office space, laboratory access, and guidance from faculty and the incubation cell
IIT Madras also invested in Ather Energy through its incubation arms. In its early days, Ather allotted 5% of its paid-up share capital to the IIT Madras Incubation Cell (IITMIC) and the IITM Rural Technology and Business Incubator (RTBI) in exchange for this support. IIT Madras’ initial investment was reportedly modest — between Rs 15 lakh and Rs. 29 lakh — but it translated into a significant equity stake. At the IPO, IIT Madras Incubation cell is selling 31,050 shares, while the IITMS Rural Technology and Business Incubator is selling 4,191 shares. The two incubation cells currently hold a combined 15.58 lakh shares in Ather. At the IPO’s upper price band of ₹321 per share, this stake is valued at around Rs. 50 crore
IIT Madras has a thriving startup incubation system. As of 2023, it has supported over 350 startups with a combined valuation of Rs. 45,000 crore and Rs. 3,000 crore in annual revenue. These startups have created 11,000 jobs, and have raised Rs. 12,000 crore in funding. Apart from Ather, IIT Madras has incubated Agnikul, a 3D-printed rocket company which launched India’s second private rocket and the ePlane Company, which is developing battery-operated personal drones. Solinas, which uses robotics to address manual scavenging and Mindgrove, India’s first chip design startup, have also been incubated at IIT Madras. Other promising startups include Soaron (UAV-based high-rise painting automation), Tritiyaeye (AI/ML-driven traffic analytics) and AOS Digital (SaaS platform for ESG compliance).