Kenyan electric-mobility company BasiGo has received a strategic equity investment from Proparco, the private-sector arm of the French Development Agency, to support the startup’s expansion of electric bus production, charging infrastructure and fleet deployment across East Africa, according to multiple industry and investment reports.
The undisclosed funding follows BasiGo’s US $41.5 million Series A round completed in late 2024 and is intended to accelerate local assembly capacity, grow charging networks in Kenya, Rwanda and potentially additional African cities, and further the company’s “Road to 1000” electric bus ambition.
Founded in 2021 and headquartered in Nairobi, BasiGo operates an integrated model combining electric bus assembly, charging infrastructure deployment and flexible financing arrangements for public transport operators under a pay-as-you-drive structure. The company has deployed about 100 electric buses in Kenya and Rwanda to date, carrying millions of passengers while cutting emissions compared with diesel alternatives.
Proparco’s investment is part of the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) Group’s broader strategy to advance low-carbon urban mobility and sustainable transport solutions, leveraging roughly €1 billion per year in global transport and mobility initiatives.
Jean Guyonnet-Dupérat, Proparco’s Regional Director for East Africa, said the backing aims to enable the introduction of clean, reliable mass transit options for tens of thousands of commuters and to support scalable e-mobility solutions across African cities.
BasiGo’s co-founder and CEO Jit Bhattacharya framed Proparco’s funding as validation of the company’s model and a catalyst for its next growth phase, which includes scaling local manufacturing and expanding charging infrastructures to underpin broader fleet growth.
Analysts noted that development finance institutions like Proparco are increasingly active in Africa’s e-mobility sector, where capital from such institutions helps bridge financing gaps for clean transport solutions and supports infrastructure-intensive business models that traditional venture capital has historically underserved.
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