BasiGo gets equity funding from France

November 27, 2025

Dear subscriber,

Startups are turning to European DFIs for patient capital, concessional structures and blended finance. It may be what the sector needs at this stage. But more red-blooded venture capital from America would be welcome as a signal of confidence.

Brian Ambani – Editor

Kenyan electric bus startup BasiGo has received equity financing of an undisclosed amount from French development financier Proparco. BasiGo will use the funding to increase production to scale its fleet of 100 buses in Kenya and Rwanda. The company locally assembles electric buses and develops charging infrastructure, partnering with bus operators.

  • Proparco’s parent AFD Group has committed $1.15 billion per year to transport and mobility worldwide. In Africa, it it has invested in a Senegalese electric bus project, a Nigerian EV financier and indirectly in a Kenyan EV maker.

  • Investors have jointly pumped more than $60 million in equity and debt into BasiGo to date. They include British International Investment (BII), CFAO Group, Novastar Ventures and Mobility54. 

  • Our take: African DFIs need to hurry up as their global peers acquire stakes in the continent’s most promising EV startups… Read more (2 min)

Tesla, Spiro, BYD, MAX and BasiGo are the top electric vehicle companies in Africa in the Mobility Rising ranking this month. Our conviction is that people are the best indicator for how well a company is doing. We thus rank companies by people metrics: Number of total staff and sales staff, country locations, staff growth, experience, tenure and masters degrees. 

  • We analysed 25 companies using LinkedIn data. They include among others: Blu EV, Zembo, Roam, eMo, Shift EV, Kiira, Gogo, eBee, GridCars, Ampersand, Dodai, Kofa, Wahu, ARC Ride, Greenwheels, Solar Taxi, MellowVans and Charge. 

  • The companies jointly have 4,136 senior staff listed on LinkedIn, out of which 1,455 were hired in the past year. The average level of experience of the staff is 7.2 years, while the average tenure is 1.8 years. 

  • Read our full ranking here… (2 min)

American EV company Tesla is expanding its talent search in Morocco, posting multiple new roles across several fields this week. It ranked second after Dodai in jobs volume, seeking expertise in sales, customer experience and technical services. Tesla’s last hiring activity in Morocco was in October, when it recruited for a country sales and delivery lead.

  • Mobility Rising surfaced 14 new roles this week. Additional hiring comes from Greenwheels, BasiGo, M-Kopa and Dodai in East Africa, and from Spiro and MAX in West Africa.

  • Technical and operations roles dominated, particularly in assembly, service and import functions, reflecting a growing need for skilled hands-on talent across the sector.

  • Check out all the jobs here… (2 min)

Kaushik Burman, Spiro’s CEO, delivers a keynote address at an e-mobility event in Nairobi (Source: Spiro)

Events

📅 Register for a webinar on lessons from Ethiopia EV policy success (Nov 29)

📅 Book a slot at the EVs Electrify Egypt (Dec 12)

📅 Attend advanced manufacturing in mobility event in Morocco (Jan 20, 2026)

Various 

🚎 Nigeria adds electric buses in its public transport system

🛵 Blu EV partners with VOO to enhance clean mobility in Egypt

⚡ ACCI, NADDC, surge Africa advocates Nigeria’s e-mobility infrastructure

Seen on LinkedIn 

Nyamko Sabuni, Founder of Sabuni & Partners, says, “Digital address systems, smart route optimisation and electric motorcycles are now starting to reduce friction in supply chains. In Ghana, we see players combining electric vehicles, real-time tracking, and efficient route planning to build modern and environmentally friendly.”