Gujarat Titans, the newest franchise of the Indian Premier League (IPL), has roped in new-age company Ather Energy as principal partner for the upcoming IPL season. The multi-year strategic partnership will begin this season, and will see the Ather Energy brand on the front of the Gujarat Titans’ official team jerseys. “Being relative newcomers in our respective fields, what binds us are shared values of fearlessness and positivity, and a hunger to make a difference in our highly competitive environments,” says Ravneet Singh Phokela, chief business officer, Ather Energy.
IPL will give the Bengaluru-based company an opportunity to introduce its scooters to a larger audience and accelerate the adoption of EVs across the country. “The scale and reach of IPL provides a great platform for us to rapidly drive awareness and familiarity for the brand across the country. But beyond just reach numbers, the IPL has the unique advantage of being a sporting event whose appeal cuts across age and gender boundaries, engaging the entire household,” Phokela adds. “The blend of youthfulness and strategic thinking that Ather Energy projects resonates with us as a team as we embark on a journey with youthful spirit and determination in mind to make our mark in the league. We hope to work together with great synergy to achieve our goals.”
Ather Energy is one of the leading new-age manufacturers of electric two-wheeler manufacturers. The company was founded in 2013 by IIT Madras alumni, Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain. It currently offers the 450X and 450 Plus line of scooters. Currently, the company has 30 experience centres (retail outlets) across India. By March 2023, it plans to open 150 experience centres in 100 cities. Ather plans to increase its annual production capacity to one million scooters from four lakhs by the end of 2022. Some of the marquee investors in the company have been Sachin Bansal (who invested $32 million in the company in 2019), the founder of Flipkart, and Tiger Global. Hero MotoCorp was an early investor in Ather Energy and has been a part of its journey since 2016. The two-wheeler leader recently invested up to ₹420 crore in Ather Energy in one or more tranches. Prior to the new investment, Hero held a 34.8% stake in the Bengaluru-based company, on a fully diluted basis.
Gujarat Titans is one of the two newest teams to join the league, and is owned by CVC Capital Partners, a British private equity and investment advisory firm, who outbid global bidders, including the Glazer family (which owns the Manchester United football club in England) for ₹5,625 crore. The Ahmedabad-based team drafted Hardik Pandya as their captain, and also acquired the services of Shubuman Gill and Rashid Khan. In the recently concluded IPL auction, the Gujarat Titans team have roped in cricketers such as Mohammed Shami, Jason Roy, Lockie Ferguson, David Miller and Vijay Shankar.
