Meet Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain, IIT Madras alums disrupting India's EV market with their $800 million company

Meet Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain, the founders of Ather Energy, a Bengaluru-based electric vehicle (EV) startup. The duo graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras and founded Ather Energy in 2013, with a belief that "electric vehicles were inevitable." Today, their company is valued at a staggering $800 million.

Mehta, an alumnus of IIT Madras, holds a Dual Degree in Engineering Design. He started his career as a Deputy Manager at Ashok Leyland before venturing into entrepreneurship. During his college days, Mehta interned at Mercedes Benz and BHEL.

Jain, also an alumnus of IIT Madras, completed his integrated Masters of Technology in Engineering Design. He briefly interned at General Motors and BHEL before partnering with his college friend Mehta to establish Ather. Together, they are leading the charge in India's transition to sustainable transportation.

Mehta and Jain have revolutionized the electric scooter industry. Despite having a sleek prototype ready as early as two years before they planned to release their first scooter, the company decided to design and engineer the scooter from scratch, which slowed progress. Finding individuals with sufficient exposure to new product development or electric vehicles was also a challenge, says Jain. However, the company has made significant progress, including building a strong team and their current valuation of almost 800 million dollars. 

According to Ather Energy's CEO Mehta, the company has raised a total of $170-180 million to date, with the latest funding round in October valuing the company at around $800 million. Ather Energy has already clocked revenue of over Rs 2,000 crore ($300 million) in January and is projected to hit $1 billion revenue by the end of 2023.

Read more: Meet Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal, IIT Delhi alumni who built Rs 40,000 crore company