MATTER Motor Works, which makes the AERA electric motorcycle, has raised $25 million (about ₹250 crore) in a growth round as the company moves from pilot production to commercial scale, founder and group CEO Mohal Lalbhai said in an interview with businessline.The latest round takes MATTER’s total capital raised to more than ₹1,000 crore. The company plans to deploy the new capital largely towards expanding its distribution network, manufacturing capacity and product portfolio, as it seeks to establish a larger presence in India’s electric motorcycle market.“Most of our capital has gone into R&D and setting up manufacturing. This ₹250 crore is going predominantly in growth—distribution, capacity expansion and product portfolio expansion,” Lalbhai said.MATTER began manufacturing in October 2024 and remained in the pilot phase until the first quarter of the current financial year. It has produced about 1,500-1,600 vehicles through the pilot phase and is now ramping up production.The company had earlier restricted production to about 100-200 vehicles a month during the pilot phase. It is now unlocking capacity of close to 1,000 vehicles a month and plans to scale this to 2,500 and eventually 5,000 vehicles a month by the end of the financial year.The production ramp-up comes alongside an expansion of its retail footprint. MATTER currently has 30 dealerships across 21 cities, compared with a presence largely limited to Ahmedabad until late last year. It plans to take the network to nearly 50 dealerships by the end of the year and add another 100 or so touchpoints in the following calendar year.The company is focusing primarily on western and southern India, where it sees greater early adoption of electric vehicles.MATTER is also widening its product portfolio, with four motorcycles planned on its AERA platform. The new models will target the 150-200cc segment and are expected to be priced between ₹1.6 lakh and ₹2.2 lakh.Lalbhai sees the relatively low penetration of electric motorcycles as an opportunity rather than a constraint. “At a motorcycle EV penetration percentage we are 0.1-ish, whereas scooters are about 25% penetration,” he said.The company argues that the motorcycle market remains under-served by electric products, with limited offerings across the wide range of segments spanning 100cc to 1,500cc-plus motorcycles. MATTER’s AERA sits in the mid-premium segment.For MATTER, the immediate competitive set is also not limited to electric motorcycles. “To a motorcycling buyer, we are competing with petrol, particularly the Pulsar and the Apache class of vehicles. It’s an EV versus ICE conversation,” Lalbhai said.The company currently has 30 dealerships and plans to scale the network as production increases. Its motorcycles use a common charging connector with Ather, while most customers currently charge at home using a standard 5-amp socket.On localisation, Lalbhai said cells, magnets and semiconductor components remain imported, while the downstream manufacturing and assembly of components is carried out locally. MATTER has filed 450 patents, of which 111 have been granted, according to Lalbhai.Published on August 25, 2026