A Spiro electric motorcycle at a battery swap station in Nairobi, Kenya. Image by Remeredzai.
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Driven by rising fuel costs, increasing demand for affordable transportation and growing policy support for clean energy solutions, investors are increasingly backing scalable electric motorcycle platforms capable of supporting Africa’s next phase of urban and industrial growth.
The electric motorcycle sector is growing nicely on the continent. I have been privileged to have had a front row seat since the early days over 8 years ago when literally a bunch of guys were converting a couple of ICE motorcycles into electric. There are now well over 50 companies active in this space, and a number of them have raised some significant funding.
Over the years, I have been having conversations with experts in the motorcycle industry from all over the world, and they all had the same advice. The motorcycle firms on the African continent are mostly startups that had done very well to prove their business cases and show beyond reasonable doubt that there is a viable large addressable market. The advice from motorcycle industry expects? First they commended the startups for the hard work and progress in raising funding in a tough environment, but most importantly, they highlighted the need for these fundraising rounds to grow at least 10×, and even more to really move the needle.
