Spiro raises $100 million, now controls over half of Kenya’s electrical bike market

Spiro, the Nairobi-headquartered electrical car startup, has raised $100 million in new funding to develop its battery-swapping community and enter new markets, together with Cameroon and Tanzania. The corporate mentioned the spherical, led by Afreximbank’s Fund for Export Growth in Africa (FEDA), is the biggest funding in Africa’s two-wheel EV sector.

The $100 million spherical is fairness financing, led by $75 million from FEDA, the funding arm of Afreximbank, a Spiro spokesperson advised TechCabal on Tuesday. This newest spherical brings Spiro’s whole debt and fairness financing funding to $280 million.

Spiro declined to reveal its present valuation:  “As a non-public firm we’re not at liberty to reveal our valuation for the time being.”

The elevate is a turning level for Africa’s electrical mobility sector, the place two-wheel transport dominates metropolis streets and demand for cheaper and cleaner choices is rising quick. Spiro’s push to scale its swapping community positions it on the centre of a race to switch petrol-powered motorbikes with electrical ones constructed for mass use.

Kaushik Burman, Spiro’s chief government officer, mentioned the funding will speed up Spiro’s plan to deploy 100,000 autos by the tip of 2025, a fourfold improve from final yr. “This landmark $100 million funding underscores our shared imaginative and prescient to construct a pan-African battery-swapping infrastructure that empowers riders with dependable, sustainable power and mobility throughout the continent,” Burman mentioned.

Spiro operates over 50,000 electrical bikes and over 1,000 battery-swapping stations throughout six nations.

Spiro controls about 21% of Kenya’s bike market, together with petrol fashions. It holds over 90% of all electrical autos within the nation, together with bikes and automobiles,  and 52% of all electrical motorbikes.

In Kenya, Spiro’s fleet has grown to greater than 8,000 electrical bikes supported by 200 swap stations. Uganda follows with about 12,000 bikes and 200 stations, whereas Rwanda leads with 14,000 bikes and 500 energetic websites. The remainder of its EVs are in West African markets, together with Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. Throughout its community, Spiro claims that riders have accomplished over 23 million battery swaps and have coated 800 million kilometres.

Based in 2022 by Gagan Gupta, Spiro operates in six African nations with plans to develop into Tanzania and Cameroon. Its mannequin combines electrical bikes with a subscription-based swapping system that permits riders to alternate depleted batteries for charged ones in minutes. In Kenya, a battery swap prices KES 290 ($2.24).

Spiro mentioned it’s assembling bikes from utterly knocked-down (CKD) kits — imported elements which can be put collectively domestically — in Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda. 

In Kenya, Spiro’s electrical bike’s motors are manufactured domestically, and uniquely, the motor line within the meeting facility is run completely by a gaggle of about 40 ladies. The corporate added that by entry to financing and progressive authorities insurance policies, it hopes to unlock Africa’s native manufacturing potential sooner or later.

Earlier than this spherical, Spiro had raised $180 million from Equitane and Société Générale. The brand new funding will assist the corporate enhance its know-how platform, develop native meeting, and develop new use circumstances in power distribution. Spiro’s progress comes as different electrical mobility companies, together with Roam and Ampersand, scale comparable swapping fashions.