ARC Ride, a Kenyan electric mobility startup, has raised $33.3 million in asset-backed debt and equity to expand its battery-swapping network and electric motorcycle fleet across Africa.
Novastar Ventures and Norrsken22 led the funding round, with participation from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), British International Investment (BII), and Proparco. Existing investors, including Musashi Seimitsu, a Japanese automotive supplier, and African impact investor Talanton, also participated.
The funding comes as African EV companies race to build the charging and battery-swapping infrastructure needed to support a rapidly growing fleet. Kenya’s registered EVs jumped nearly 30-fold from 2022 to 2025, intensifying the race to build the infrastructure behind Africa’s electric-mobility shift.
ARC Ride said it will use the funding to expand its operations in Kenya, add 5,000 electric motorcycles to its fleet, strengthen its battery infrastructure, and develop technologies such as automated battery swapping, smart charging, and renewable-energy integration. It will also support expansion into Ghana, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda.
“This funding reinforces our vision of building a robust, scalable energy and mobility network across Africa,” Jo Hurst Croft, founder of ARC Ride, said in a statement. “Our ambition is to make electric mobility the default choice for riders across Africa by making it more accessible, more affordable and more practical than petrol alternatives. This funding allows us to scale the infrastructure required to support that transition and to do so at pace.”
