Spiro, a pan African electric mobility company, has secured 50 million dollars in debt financing from the African Export Import Bank, Nithio and the Africa Go Green Fund to expand its battery swapping network across the continent, The Southern African Times can report.
According to information released by the company and corroborated by coverage in regional business media, the facility will support the scaling of battery swapping infrastructure in existing markets including Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Nigeria, Benin and Togo, while enabling entry into additional African markets. The investment will also fund technological enhancements such as automated battery swapping systems, fast charging solutions and integration with renewable energy sources. Details of the transaction have been published on the company’s official platform at Spiro.
Spiro reports that it has deployed more than 80,000 electric motorcycles and established over 2,500 battery swapping stations across its operational footprint. The company states that more than 30 million battery swaps have been completed and that riders have collectively travelled over one billion kilometres without tailpipe emissions. These figures have been referenced in industry coverage including CleanTechnica and The Kenyan Wallstreet.
The participation of Afreximbank positions the transaction within broader continental strategies that link trade, industrialisation and climate aligned growth. The Cairo headquartered multilateral financial institution has increasingly supported projects aimed at strengthening value addition and reducing import dependency across Africa. In public statements accompanying the transaction, bank officials framed electric mobility as part of a wider sustainable development agenda.
Nithio, a climate focused fintech platform that structures asset backed financing for distributed energy and electric mobility, has described the African e mobility sector as a critical component of the continent’s clean energy transition. Further information on its financing approach is available at Nithio. The Africa Go Green Fund, managed by Cygnum Capital and backed by development finance institutions, has similarly emphasised commercially viable investments that deliver measurable environmental and social outcomes.
The financing comes amid increased activity in Africa’s electric mobility sector. Arc Ride recently secured a 5 million dollar equity commitment from the International Finance Corporation, while Uganda based Gogo Electric obtained 1 million dollars from ElectriFi, a European Union funded electrification financing facility managed by EDFI Management Company. These transactions, reported by regional platforms such as Innovation Village, indicate sustained investor interest in two and three wheeled electric transport solutions.
Motorcycles remain central to mobility and livelihoods across many African cities and rural areas, serving both formal and informal transport networks. Battery swapping models are designed to address constraints associated with high upfront vehicle costs, charging downtime and limited grid reliability. By separating battery ownership from vehicle ownership, operators seek to lower barriers to entry for riders while improving asset efficiency.
Since 2022, Spiro states that it has raised more than 230 million dollars to finance vehicle deployment as well as production and assembly facilities in Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. This reflects a broader continental trend in which electric mobility is increasingly linked to local manufacturing capacity, skills development and supply chain participation.
While the long term commercial viability of battery swapping models will depend on regulatory clarity, grid integration and sustained consumer uptake, the latest financing round underscores growing confidence among African and international financial institutions in the sector’s potential. As African cities continue to expand and transport demand increases, the evolution of locally adapted electric mobility infrastructure is likely to remain a significant area of policy and investment focus.
