BasiGo Secures $24 Million for EV Expansion

Key Figures & Findings: BasiGo, a pioneering electric vehicle (EV) company in Kenya, has raised $24 million in equity funding and secured $17.5 million in debt investment to fuel its expansion across East Africa. The funding round was led by Africa50 an infrastructure investment platform established to address Africa's significant infrastructure funding gap, with participation from key investors such as Novastar Ventures, Mobility54, and CFAO Kenya. BasiGo plans to utilize the capital to scale its Pay-As-You-Drive platform and produce more electric buses to support clean, sustainable transport in Kenya and Rwanda. CEO Jit Bhattacharya highlighted the importance of this investment in validating BasiGo's business model and enabling its growth across East Africa.

Statistics & Insights: BasiGo secured a $10 million loan from the U.S. Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and an additional $7.5 million from British International Investment (BII) to support its electric bus deployment in Rwanda. The company aims to deploy 1,000 electric buses in the next three years, furthering its efforts to electrify public transportation in the region.

Future Implications: The investment will help BasiGo to expand its operations and establish electric bus assembly lines, offering a cleaner transport solution for East Africa. The new models of electric buses are expected to hit the streets by 2027, marking a transformative shift in East African transport systems.

Source: Electrive