BasiGo has secured Ksh 396 million (USD 3 million) worth of equity funding from CFAO Group, a mobility, healthcare, consumer, and infrastructure business in Africa.
The investment has been made by CFAO Kenya and Mobility54, the corporate venture capital arm of CFAO.
The investment will go towards accelerating the scale-up of BasiGo’s manufacturing and delivery of electric buses in Kenya and Rwanda. As of March 2024, BasiGo’s electric buses in Kenya had driven over 1.5 million kilometers, carried over 2.1 million passengers and mitigated over 680 tones of greenhouse gas emissions.
With operations in over 40 African countries, CFAO is already active in the e-mobility industry in East Africa. Early this year, CFAO launched the first dealership for BYD electric cars in Kigali, Rwanda. They are actively building the e-mobility ecosystem in East Africa by investing in e-mobility startup companies through Mobility54. The group is also contributing to the development of renewable energies in Africa.
Speaking about the investment, Akira Wada, the Managing Director of CFAO Kenya said, “This is the start of a new era and through this investment, we are not only supporting the growth of the electric vehicle industry, but also contributing to the development of sustainable green energy value chain that will benefit communities across Africa. We are committed to playing our part in advancing clean energy initiatives and driving progress towards a more sustainable and prosperous future for Africa and beyond.”
BasiGo aims to deliver 1,000 locally assembled electric buses in the next three years, creating 300 green manufacturing jobs in Kenya. The company has already received over 500 reservations from bus operators in Nairobi and an additional 100 reservations from bus operators in Kigali, Rwanda. The company’s key innovation is the Pay-As-You-Drive financing model, a mileage-based lease which eliminates the high upfront cost of an electric bus for operators.