Kenya-based Spiro, a leader in two-wheel transportation and battery-swapping, has raised a further US$55 million in capital to close its latest round of funding at US$270 million.
Spiro is Africa’s largest electric mobility company, operating the continent’s most extensive and fastest growing network of battery-swapping for electric two-wheel vehicles. It has operational assembling facilities in Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Togo, Cameroon and Benin.
With more than 95,000 electric motorcycles, over 2,500 battery swapping stations and more than 30 million battery swaps to date, Spiro has achieved over 1 billion kilometres of low-carbon emissions travel, the company is substituting expensive imported fossil fuel- based transportation with affordable, accessible and sustainable solutions.
Disrupt Africa reported earlier this month Spiro had banked a US$215 million investment round – backed by major institutional investors including Impact Fund Denmark and Equitane – to support the expansion of its battery-swapping network, strengthen its industrial and assembly footprint, accelerate technology development, and support the company’s entry into new high-growth African markets.
It has now closed that round at US$270 million with an extra US$55 million in funding from NewTrails Capital, a prominent Chinese growth-stage investment fund focusing on emerging markets, with strategic locations in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Nigeria.
This capital injection positions Spiro among the most heavily-backed in Africa’s e-mobility and energy ecosystem.
“I would like to thank NewTrails Capital for believing in Spiro’s model and supporting our unique tech, energy and innovation journey. Having deployed 100,000 electric vehicles and 2,500 smart-swap stations across seven active markets, Spiro has firmly moved past the proof-of-concept phase. Partnering with NewTrail Capital’s deeply experienced team marks a powerful new chapter for Spiro as we prepare for the next steps of our pan-African and international expansion,” said Gagan Gupta, founder of Spiro and chairman of Equitane.
Yufan Zhang, founding partner of NewTrails Capital, said his firm believed Spiro was driving a profound “energy revolution” across mobility use cases in Africa.
“This represents not only a vast and highly imaginative market opportunity, but also the potential to grow into an infrastructure-like business that creates meaningful commercial, social, and environmental value. In our view, Spiro’s core strengths lie in its deeply localized operating capabilities, vertically integrated supply chain, digitally enabled ecosystem, sound unit economics, and strong ability to scale rapidly,” he said.
“More importantly, Spiro has systematically integrated vehicles, batteries, energy replenishment, payments, and service networks into a solution that is truly tailored to the needs of African users, effectively addressing long-standing structural pain points in the local market. As a Chinese fund committed to investing in Africa’s energy transition and green technology, we are also very encouraged to see Chinese supply chains and financing playing an increasingly important role in this process. Spiro is still a young company, and everything today is only the beginning. We look forward to continuing to fulfill our role as a long-term investor, contributing our resources and experience, growing together with Spiro, and helping accelerate Africa’s new energy transition.”
