Spiro has raised new financing of $100 million, the biggest single investment to date for Africa’s e-mobility sector, in a deal led by The Fund for Export Development in Africa, the development arm of Afreximbank. The funding fast-tracks the Dubai-based company to scale its fleet of electric motorcycles and battery-swapping network across key African markets.
The round reflects a turning point: electric two-wheelers are going from pilot projects to wide-scale implementation in an area where motorcycles are economic lifelines. The pitch from Spiro is simple: provide riders with lower total cost of ownership, solve energy access via swapping, and localize manufacturing to create jobs and resilience.
A Milestone for Battery Swapping in Africa
The funding round includes $75 million from the Afreximbank-supported vehicle, with the balance from strategic investors, company officials said. It follows more than $180 million that the company had raised through a combination of debt and equity from Equitane Group, Spiro’s parent, and Société Générale. The size of that raise does speak to the confidence of investors that battery swapping is the fastest way to electrify Africa’s most popular means of transportation.
Spiro’s network-first model is aimed at riders who cannot afford to be without wheels. Rather than stop to charge, drivers swap out depleted batteries for fully charged replacement packs in a matter of minutes from staffed swap stations. They are sited at high-traffic locations — gas stations, shopping centers, even places of worship — creating a dense energy lattice that mirrors the ebbs and flows of ridership each day.
Unit Economics and Rider Impact in Key Markets
For motorcycle taxi operators — boda bodas in East Africa, okadas in West Africa — every minute and shilling counts. Spiro’s electric bikes usually go for about $800, compared with $1,300 to $1,500 for new gas models, the company says. Energy costs per kilometer are roughly 30% lower, and maintenance is simpler — none of the oil, clutch, or exhaust to deal with.
Drivers who log long days on the road, often 150 to 200 kilometers, are able to save as much as $3 a day in fuel and maintenance costs, according to Spiro’s internal data.
Riders pay a fee for access to the energy network and are charged depending on how much battery life is used through a patented algorithm. In markets where fuel inflation is eroding margins — and accelerated in some countries by the lifting of kerosene subsidies — these are game-changing savings that can keep scrambling operators above water, or build equity for that second or third bike.
Where the New Investment Money Is Going and Why
Spiro intends to grow its swap network, scale assembly and manufacturing, and drive research and development into batteries and vehicle modules. The company already owns assembly plants in Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Uganda that produce traction motors, controllers, and packs that use its unique battery management system. Management aims to raise local sourcing from about 30% to approximately 70%, including plastics, helmets, and brake components in the regional supply chain.
The fresh capital also allows for market entries and pilots in countries including Cameroon and Tanzania. By expanding its footprint, Spiro hopes to create route density for riders and utilization gains for its energy assets — the core lever of profitability in the swapping business.
Policy and Power Reality for Africa’s E-Mobility Push
Electrifying two-wheelers at scale in Africa is about designing for the grid constraints. It pairs swap sites with renewables and stationary storage to continue operating in the event of a blackout, something that’s particularly crucial for cities where power outages are common, Spiro says. This is consistent with advice from the International Energy Agency and UN Environment Programme, which both say two- and three-wheelers are high-impact for early electrification with relatively low infrastructure requirements.
Policy momentum is building. Rwanda provided tax breaks for e-mobility parts; Kenya is looking at special power tariffs and duty exemptions on electric motorcycles. Development finance institutions, such as Afreximbank and the African Development Bank, have also identified e-mobility as a priority for improving urban air quality and creating jobs. If regulators continue to clear the way for swap stations and imports, deployment curves could get steeper.
Competition and the Open Road for Electric Two-Wheelers
Spiro is not alone. “But for anyone who has operated in electric technologies and logistics, it was clear we can do business.” Ampersand has commercialized e-moto operations in Rwanda and Kenya; ROAM is manufacturing motorcycles and electric three-wheelers, while MAX has been working on electrification in Nigeria; BasiGo now aims to grow its volumes of construction-form electric buses. But Spiro insists the real battle is against a well-entrenched gasoline market, in particular its sprawling, cut-rate secondhand sector that ensures newcomers to EVs keep entry costs in line with operating ones.
The addressable market is massive. In Africa, there are approximately 25 million motorcycles on the road — a fraction of the hundreds of millions in India, where the population is similar in size to that of Africa — reflecting headroom as incomes rise and urbanization accelerates. For investors, the theory goes, once a swapping network hits density, utilization and energy margins combine to create defensible moats like mobile money agent networks.
By also combining less costly bikes with instantaneous access to a battery and local manufacturing, Spiro is taking a gamble that it can convert riders sensitive to price at volume. Should the company translate this record investment into solid infrastructure and sound unit economics, Africa’s e-mobility story could jump from promise to proof.
