African electric vehicle company Spiro, which has operations in Kenya, has secured a $50 million loan from the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) to expand its operations on the continent.
The company said in a statement that the agreement was signed in Kigali this week during the African CEO Forum. Spiro sells electric motorcycles.
This comes months after the company also secured $63 million from Société Générale in August last year to expand its presence in Togo and Benin.
Spiro, which began operations in 2019, currently operates more than 600 electric vehicle battery swapping stations in Kenya, Benin, Togo and Rwanda.
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“The $50 million debt facility will significantly enhance our operational capabilities and help us expand our footprint to include more African countries,” said Kaushik Burman, CEO of Spiro.
Spiro is keen to expand its presence in Kenya, and in February it announced a deal with oil marketing company Petrocity that will see the electric car company establish battery swapping stations at the latter’s outlets.
“The future of transportation lies in the use of electric vehicles and with demand for clean energy solutions on the rise, support for companies like Spiro is crucial to accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles and reducing carbon emissions,” said the Executive Vice President of the African Inter-African Export-Import Bank. Kanayo Awani Commercial Bank.
This comes as electric vehicle companies within Kenya and across Africa have been racing to raise financing through a mix of debt and equity in recent years to support their expansion.
For example, Roam, formerly known as Opipus, in February raised $24 million in a Series A round of financing, including debt commitments of up to $10 million from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), to expand production of motorcycles and buses. electrical.
In March, BasiGo, another local electric vehicle leader, raised $3 million in equity financing from CFAO Group, a mobility maker wholly-owned by Japan-based Toyota Tsusho Corporation.
Electric vehicle companies are setting up local assembly lines to meet the steadily growing demand for electric motorcycles, passenger cars and buses.
They have also set up charging points in key parts of Nairobi with the aim of setting up charging points in other major cities to fill the deficit which has been cited as one of the major obstacles to the uptake of e-mobility.
(tags for translation) Spiro
