African electric motorcycle and battery-swapping company Spiro has secured an additional $55 million equity investment from Chinese early-stage investors NewTrails Capital, bringing a funding round announced earlier this month to a total of $270 million.
This latest commitment comes three weeks after Spiro disclosed a $215 million equity raise from European and African investors, which was one of the largest funding rounds ever announced in Africa’s electric mobility sector.
With the addition of NewTrails Capital’s investment, Spiro has cemented its position among the most heavily funded electric mobility companies on the continent.
What Spiro is saying
The company described the additional investment as more than a financing milestone, framing it as validation of the broader electric mobility opportunity taking shape across Africa.
- “For us, this is more than a financing announcement. It is a strong vote of confidence in the future of electric mobility in Africa, in the infrastructure we have built over the years, and in the opportunity that lies ahead,” the company said in a statement published on LinkedIn on Monday.
- “What was once considered an ambitious vision is increasingly becoming part of Africa’s mobility reality,” it added.
On NewTrails Capital’s role in the partnership, Spiro said the Chinese fund’s focus on green technology positions it to help the company tap into global supply chains to accelerate Africa’s energy transition.
- “As a Chinese fund committed to Africa’s green technology, NewTrails Capital will support Spiro to leverage global supply chains to accelerate Africa’s new energy transition,” the company said.
- “The opportunity ahead is immense, and we are only getting started,” Spiro added.
The investment also follows Spiro’s appointment of former Indofast Energy chief executive Anant Badjatya as group CEO less than two weeks ago. Badjatya previously oversaw a battery-swapping network of more than 1,800 stations in India, one of the world’s most mature markets for the technology.
More insights
Spiro has swiftly scaled its operations across the African continent, boasting a fleet of over 100,000 electric motorcycles supported by approximately 2,500 battery-swapping stations.
- The company has also established manufacturing facilities in Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda, while operating a dedicated battery recycling plant in Nigeria to promote sustainability and a circular economy in the electric mobility sector.
- This strong regional footprint positions Spiro as one of the most vertically integrated players in Africa’s growing electric two-wheeler market.
NewTrails Capital’s entry into the round adds a strategic supply chain dimension to the investment, given China’s dominance in battery manufacturing and electric vehicle components, industries that Spiro will need to draw on as it scales its battery-swapping network across Africa.
What you should know
Earlier, in October 2025, Nairametrics reported that Spiro had raised $100 million, one of the largest investments ever in the continent’s electric two-wheeler sector.
The company planned to deploy over 100,000 electric vehicles by the end of 2025, representing a massive 400% year-on-year growth.
The funding round was led by the Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA), which underscores Spiro’s strong leadership and innovative battery-swapping technology in Africa’s mobility industry.
With this capital, Spiro was on track to surpass 100,000 deployed vehicles in 2025, accelerating the shift toward sustainable mobility across the continent.
