ARC Ride, a Kenyan electric mobility company founded in 2019 by Jo Hurst-Croft, has raised $33.3 million in a mix of equity and debt, according to African-Startups. Novastar Ventures and Norrsken22 led the round. The IFC, British International Investment and Proparco joined, and existing investors Musashi Seimitsu and Talanton added capital.
Why swapping matters
The battery is the most expensive part of an electric motorbike. ARC Ride rents it out as a service: riders stop at a swap station, take out a flat battery and leave with a charged one. That lowers the price of getting on the road and removes hours of charging from a working day. For a motorcycle taxi rider, time off the road is lost income.
Where it is going
The company is expanding across Nairobi and western Kenya and has launched in South Africa after a pilot in Cape Town, with vehicles rolling out in Gauteng. Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda are next. The money will pay for more swap stations and a larger fleet of electric two- and three-wheelers.
"Our ambition is to make electric mobility the default choice for riders across Africa," Hurst-Croft said, according to African-Startups.
