Spiro, the electric motorcycle and battery-swap company, has borrowed another USD 18 million, or about KES 2.3 billion, from Africa Go Green Fund. That doubles the fund’s total commitment to Spiro to USD 36 million, or about KES 4.7 billion.
Kenyan riders won’t see this money directly. The fund ties all of it to more electric motorcycles and more battery-swap stations in Uganda and Rwanda.
How Spiro works
Spiro sells electric motorcycles to boda boda riders but keeps the batteries. When a battery runs low, the rider pulls into a Spiro station, swaps it for a charged one and pays per swap. There’s no charging at home and no fuel.
On Spiro’s own count, it has put more than 135,000 motorcycles on the road, runs over 2,500 swap stations and has done more than 50 million swaps across seven countries, Kenya included. In February, the same count was 80,000 bikes and 30 million swaps. That’s 55,000 more bikes in seven months, if the figures hold.
The model hasn’t always gone down well with riders. In December 2025, we explained the Kenyan backlash over battery repossessions and bikes locked remotely after five days of not being used.
What the money pays for
Spiro says it has more than 33,000 motorcycles in Uganda and over 40,000 in Rwanda. The new loan buys more bikes for both markets and more places to swap batteries.
Part of it goes to mega battery-swap stations. These are large hubs that hold between 200 and 800 batteries each, placed on busy commercial routes. Spiro has 10 of them in Rwanda and one in Kenya. Uganda has none yet, and this loan pays for the first ones there.
Anant Badjatya, Spiro’s Group CEO since June, said the priority is “to build network density”. In plain terms, that means more swap points closer to where riders work. So if you ride a Spiro bike in Uganda or Rwanda, you should have a shorter trip to a charged battery. Neither Spiro nor the fund gave a station count or a date.
This is a loan
Africa Go Green Fund doesn’t get any shares in Spiro. It lends the money, and Spiro pays it back with interest. The release doesn’t give the interest rate, the repayment period or the currency the loan is in.
This is Spiro’s second loan from the fund. The first closed in December 2025, when Africa Go Green Fund committed USD 18 million and Nithio, a climate finance lender, added USD 7 million, about KES 906 million. In February, Spiro announced a USD 50 million debt package, about KES 6.5 billion, led by Afreximbank and Africa Go Green Fund with Nithio lending alongside. That release doesn’t say how much Afreximbank put in.
Debt sits alongside the equity Spiro has sold, where investors do get a stake. In June, we reported that NewTrails Capital put in USD 55 million to close Spiro’s biggest equity round at USD 270 million, or about KES 35 billion. A month earlier, Spiro bought UK engineering firm Coexlion and picked Nairobi for its first African research centre.
Who Africa Go Green Fund is
Africa Go Green Fund is a debt fund for companies that cut greenhouse gas emissions in Africa. It lends to businesses in energy efficiency, green buildings, clean transport and green appliances. KfW, Germany’s state development bank, set it up. Its other backers include the African Development Bank, the World Bank’s IFC, British International Investment, Swedfund and DEG.
The fund has USD 232 million in committed capital, about KES 30 billion. Spiro’s USD 36 million is about 16% of that. Cygnum Capital, an investment bank and asset manager with an office in Nairobi, runs the fund.
Spiro isn’t its only bet on Ugandan motorcycles. The fund has also invested in Gogo Electric, another Ugandan electric motorbike company.
Electric bikes are catching on in Kenya too. Over 15% of motorbikes sold in Kenya in 2025 were electric. This loan, though, is a bet on two other East African markets. The thing to watch is Uganda’s first mega swap station, and Spiro hasn’t said when it opens.
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