Spiro, Africa’s largest electric mobility company, has secured an additional $55 million (about KSh 7.1 billion) in equity investment from Chinese growth-stage investor NewTrails Capital.
The latest funding round brings the investment into Spiro to $270 million (approximately KSh 34.9 billion).
The investment marks another significant milestone for the company, which has rapidly emerged as one of Africa’s leading players in electric mobility and clean energy infrastructure. The latest capital injection follows a record $215 million equity raise announced earlier this month and pushes Spiro’s total disclosed funding to approximately $557 million (about KSh 72.1 billion).
The company says the new funding will support the expansion of its battery-swapping network, manufacturing operations and energy infrastructure across key African markets, including Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Nigeria.
Founded in 2022, Spiro has become a major force in Africa’s growing transition towards cleaner transport solutions. The company operates the continent’s largest battery-swapping network for electric two-wheel vehicles and says it has deployed more than 100,000 electric motorcycles, built over 2,500 swapping stations and facilitated more than 30 million battery swaps across seven countries.
The latest funding round attracted backing from a diverse group of international investors. Alongside long-term institutional partners including FEDA, the round also drew support from Impact Fund Denmark and Equitane, building on recent investments from Nithio and the Africa Go Green Fund.
The fresh investment positions Spiro among the most heavily funded companies operating within Africa’s electric mobility and clean energy ecosystem, a sector increasingly viewed as critical to reducing transport costs, lowering emissions and expanding access to sustainable mobility solutions.
Speaking on the investment, Spiro founder Gagan Gupta said the company had moved beyond the experimental stage and was now focused on scaling proven solutions across the continent.
“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,” stated Gupta, who is also Chairman of Equitane.
NewTrails Capital said its decision to invest was driven by confidence in Spiro’s business model and the long-term opportunity presented by Africa’s energy transition.
“We believe Spiro is 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,” said Yufan Zhang, Founding Partner of NewTrails Capital.
“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. 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.”
Zhang added that Chinese supply chains and financing are expected to play an increasingly important role in supporting Africa’s green technology transformation.
“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 fulfil our role as a long-term investor, contributing our resources and experience, growing together with Spiro, and helping accelerate Africa’s new energy transition.”
The partnership is also expected to strengthen Spiro’s manufacturing and supply-chain localisation efforts on the continent, particularly through collaboration with Chinese suppliers.
As African countries continue to pursue cleaner transport systems and greater energy security, investments of this scale signal growing international confidence in the continent’s green economy. For thousands of commercial motorcycle riders who depend on two-wheel transport for their livelihoods, the expansion of electric mobility infrastructure could help lower operating costs while reducing dependence on fossil fuels.
With operations already spanning multiple African markets and plans for further expansion, Spiro’s latest funding round underscores the increasing role African companies are playing in shaping the future of sustainable transport and energy solutions.
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