Electric motorcycle maker and startup Matter has raised $35 million (Rs 300 crore) from a clutch of investors, and intends to raise a further $35 million by August-end, founder and CEO Mohal Lalbhai told FE.
A venture capital arm of US-based Helena, Capital 2B, Japan Airlines & Translink Innovation Fund, Saad Bahwan Investment Management Company (SB Invest), other institutional investors and family offices participated in the current round.
Lalbhai said, “The latest fundraising is part of the first close where we have offloaded between 15-18%. Towards the end of the round, we would be cumulatively looking at a 25% sale at $70 million.” Post the final round, the promoter’s stake in the company will fall to 50-55%.
After the launch of Matter’s flagship bike Aera around September, the company will go for another round of funding in the April-June quarter of 2025. “We will raise $200 million then and it will be the last round before we go public, which we plan to do in 3-4 years,” Lalbhai added.
The Ahmedabad-based company claims that its second product platform will be a product featuring swappable battery options. This will be more mass market than the first launch and will cater to the buyers of 100-125cc motorcycles.
The deliveries of the Aera, which was first showcased in Auto Expo 2023, was supposed to begin in September last year. However, the bike will now get delivered in the festive season of this year. It claims to have 40,000 bookings for the Aera.
“Bulk of the proceeds will go into scaling up of manufacturing. Our first plant has an annual capacity of 120,000 units, where we expect to reach 5,000 units a month in March and 10,000 units by June. There is also a portion which will go into getting the second product out in 18 months,” Lalbhai added.
Matter will start distribution from Ahmedabad before opening sales in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The last leg of the expansion will be in the northern region. By December 2025, the company expects to have 150 touch points covered.
