• RTI fund participation: Ather Energy is an early recipient of a low-interest loan from the Indian government’s ₹1 lakh crore RTI corpus aimed at funding R&D initiatives.
• Deep tech expansion: Hardware and deep tech startup activity across sectors such as drones, defense, EVs, batteries, and space tech has surged over the past 18 months, equaling the scale of the preceding 11.5 years.
• Venture capital dynamics: Emerging deep tech startups are building independently of initial VC fashion, forcing venture investors to adapt as maturing companies go public and generate returns.
• Hardware scaling trajectory: Demonstrating the long-term hardware model, Ather achieved its first positive gross margin in 2021—eight years after its 2013 founding—before scaling revenue from approximately ₹200 crore to ₹3,000–4,000 crore over four years.