The story of electric mobility in Africa has often been one of promise rather than progress. Infrastructure is lacking, the power grid is unreliable, and most markets still run on cheap imported bikes. But for the past two years, Dubai-based Spiro has been trying to rewrite that narrative.
The company has just announced a $100 million investment round led by Africa Export Development Fund (FEDA), the development arm of Afreximbank. This increase represents the largest investment in EV mobility in Africa’s history and solidifies Spiro’s position as Africa’s most active electric motorcycle company.
Spiro says it plans to deploy more than 100,000 e-bikes across Africa by the end of 2025, a 400% increase over the previous year, underscoring the company’s ambition to conquer a category long considered too fragmented to scale.
Spiro’s growth is remarkable. When CEO Kaushik Burman joined the company two years ago from Taiwanese battery swapping giant Gogoro, the company had just 8,000 e-bikes and 150 swapping stations between neighboring Benin and Togo.
It currently operates in six countries, including Rwanda, Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda, with a fleet of more than 60,000 bikes and 1,500 swapping stations where riders can swap out depleted batteries for freshly charged ones. Burman told TechCrunch that the number of battery replacements has jumped from 4 million in 2022 to more than 27 million this year.
The secret to its growth, Berman says, is a business model built to suit African realities.
In African cities, motorcycle taxis, known as boda bodas in Kenya and okadas in Nigeria, move people and goods in both crowded cities and rural towns. But for the millions of riders who depend on them, fuel costs are painful.
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“These drivers spend 10 to 12 hours on the road each day, traveling 150 to 200 kilometers, paying high fuel costs. At the end of the day, they often save almost nothing,” Berman said. “That is why electric mobility, especially electric mobility through battery replacement models, fits perfectly into this segment. They cannot afford downtime and can save money.”
That’s the wedge Spiro leans into. Burman says the initial cost of its electric bikes is about 40 percent lower than new gasoline models. In Kenya and Rwanda, typical gasoline bikes sell for between $1,300 and $1,500, but Spiro’s e-bikes cost about $800, he says, and cost about 30% less per kilometer because it’s cheaper to replace the battery than to refuel.
This combination of low cost and quick payback makes Spiro’s model attractive to taxi drivers. Berman claims that most passengers who pay daily for access to the energy network will save up to $3 per day on fuel and maintenance costs. “This is enough to buy another bike or start a small business over time,” the CEO said.
Spiro makes money from both bike sales and its battery exchange network. Riders buy or lease a Spiro bike, pick up a charged battery at an exchange station, and pay only for the energy consumed. Each swap station houses dozens of batteries that are continuously charged, resulting in zero downtime. Passengers are billed through a proprietary algorithm that measures energy usage.
The network itself is Spiro’s profit driver. By owning the battery infrastructure and charging a small fee per swap, the company quickly achieves economies of scale. “In addition to battery replacement, we are also leveraging renewable energy and energy storage to ensure the network continues to operate during power outages,” Berman said.
Spiro’s Swap Stations are located inside gas stations, shopping centers, and even places of worship, and the network built through partnerships also creates local jobs.
To meet growing demand and increase employment opportunities, the three-year-old startup has established four assembly manufacturing facilities in Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda and Uganda. These factories assemble bicycles and key components such as traction motors, controllers, and batteries.
Berman said Spiro already assembles batteries in Kenya using its own battery management system (BMS) and plans to increase local content, including plastics, helmets and brake parts, from 30% now to 70% within two years.
A $100 million round, including $75 million from FEDA and the balance from other strategic investors, will help fund this expansion. This follows previous investments of more than $180 million in a combination of debt and equity from Equitane Group (Spiro’s parent company) and Société Générale.
The new capital will be used to expand Spiro’s swap network, manufacturing capacity and research and development, as well as launch pilots in new markets such as Cameroon and Tanzania.
As it scales, Spiro should face increased competition from other EV startups such as Ampersand, ROAM, Max, and BasiGo. But Berman insists otherwise.
“Our competition is in both the entry-level and second-hand gasoline bike segments, and the millions of potential riders who don’t yet own a bike or don’t have access to affordable transportation or employment.”
Despite having similar population sizes, Africa owns about 25 million motorcycles compared to India’s 320 million. This 13-fold difference shows the magnitude of the opportunity ahead, he said.
