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Kenyan e-mobility startup Arc Ride just bagged US$10 million in debt financing from a Paris-based sustainable investment manager Mirova to to scale its battery-swapping network for electric motorcycles.
It’s the first time Mirova’s US$282 million Gigaton Fund was putting money into Africa’s EV space, and it’s a big nod to the continent’s growing two-wheeler market.
TechPoint reports that for Mirova, which manages €33 billion in assets, this waa not just another deal but a strategic move into a market projected to grow more than 10 percent annually through 2029, with boda bodas — the motorcycle taxis that keep Nairobi moving — at the heart of it.
The financing was structured as a five-year senior secured loan, and Arc Ride plans to roll out 600 battery-swapping cabinets and 25,000 batteries across Kenya.
Company Chief Executive Officer Joseph Hurst-Croft called the partnership a “major milestone” in Arc Ride’s mission to make EVs more accessible and sustainable.
“This move came after the company disclosed $5 million in funding in May 2025 to expand its electric motorbikes in Kenya,” Hurst-Croft said.
Arc Ride’s Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS) model lets riders swap a dead battery for a charged one in minutes, cutting fuel costs and solving the range anxiety problem that usually dogs EV adoption.
For Kenya’s boda boda riders, many of whom are gig workers navigating volatile fuel prices, this could be game-changing.
Switching to electric lowers upfront ownership costs and wipes out fuel expenses altogether, while the environment benefits too, each electric bike cuts about two tonnes of CO₂ emissions a year compared to a petrol one.
Mirova said the deal was structured using blended finance to de-risk the investment and pull in more private capital down the line.
Having boots on the ground in Nairobi also helped the French firm source and structure the deal.
“Arc Ride is redefining urban mobility in Africa,” said Rim Azirar, Deputy Head of Emerging Market Energy Transition at Mirova.
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