The funding, led by Afreximbank’s impact investing arm, will allow the fast-growing clean transport firm to build up its battery-swapping infrastructure across African markets.
Spiro, an electric motorbike and battery swapping firm operating across several African countries, has raised $100m (€85) in its latest funding round, including $75m from the impact investment arm of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank).
The company said the investment from Afreximbank’s Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA) recognised its growing role in Africa’s mobility sector. The other $25m came from an unidentified venture capital investor.
This investment follows on from $180m of previous funding from Dubai-based Equitane and France’s Société Générale.
The company was founded by Equitane president Gagan Gupta in 2019 – when it was known as MAuto – primarily to provide a green alternative to auto-rickshaws. It relaunched as Spiro in 2022, as it pivoted to focus on growing demand for electric motorbikes, which it sells or leases to customers.
A main pillar of its business model is its network of battery swapping stations, where riders can quickly swap a drained battery for a fully charged one, rather than undertaking time-consuming charging themselves.
Kushik Burman, Spiro’s Dubai-based CEO, said electric motorbikes, as well as being cleaner, were also now cheaper to run than conventional bikes, which are dependent on expensive imported petrol.
“For the first time, riders are embracing sustainable transportation because it performs better, costs less to operate, and offers greater profitability than traditional gas- powered vehicles,” he said.
The company plans to use the new funding to expand its battery-swapping infrastructure across existing and new markets, and to strengthen its technology platform.
Rapid growth
Spiro said it was now Africa’s largest electric mobility company, outpacing others in this growing market, such as Rwanda-based Ampersand and Kenya-based Roam. The company has 60,000 electric motorcycles and 1,200 battery swapping stations across the continent, with operations in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Nigeria, Benin and Togo. It has also recently launched pilot programs in Tanzania and Cameroon.
It said it expected to reach over 100,000 deployed vehicles by the end of 2025 and hopes to put 2 million electric motorbikes on Africa’s roads by 2030. The company also manufactures motorbikes and batteries, with assembly facilities in Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria and Rwanda.
Benedict Oramah, Afreximbank’s president and board chairman of both Afreximbank and FEDA, said that, by investing in Spiro, FEDA was helping to lay the groundwork for stronger intra-African trade and industrialisation by stimulating local vehicle manufacturing, strengthening regional integration, and enhancing trade flows.
“At the same time, we are focused on creating skilled employment opportunities and reducing the continent’s reliance on imported second-hand vehicles,” he said.
Kigali-based FEDA was established in 2019 to provide equity, quasi-equity, and debt capital to finance a huge funding gap for Africa’s trade sector. It has provided over $1.3bn to companies and projects in sectors including manufacturing, agro-processing, financial services, healthcare and pharmaceuticals.
