ARC Ride, a Kenyan electric mobility startup, has raised $33.3 million in asset-backed debt and equity to expand its battery-swapping network and electric motorcycle fleet across Africa.
Novastar Ventures and Norrsken22 led the funding round, with participation from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), British International Investment (BII), and Proparco. Existing investors, including Musashi Seimitsu, a Japanese automotive supplier, and African impact investor Talanton, also participated.
The funding comes as African EV companies race to build the charging and battery-swapping infrastructure needed to support a rapidly growing fleet. Kenya’s registered EVs jumped nearly 30-fold from 2022 to 2025, intensifying the race to build the infrastructure behind Africa’s electric-mobility shift.
ARC Ride said it will use the funding to expand its operations in Kenya, add 5,000 electric motorcycles to its fleet, strengthen its battery infrastructure, and develop technologies such as automated battery swapping, smart charging, and renewable-energy integration. It will also support expansion into Ghana, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda.
“This funding reinforces our vision of building a robust, scalable energy and mobility network across Africa,” Jo Hurst Croft, founder of ARC Ride, said in a statement. “Our ambition is to make electric mobility the default choice for riders across Africa by making it more accessible, more affordable and more practical than petrol alternatives. This funding allows us to scale the infrastructure required to support that transition and to do so at pace.”
Founded in Nairobi in 2019, ARC Ride has built its business around electric two- and three-wheelers and the infrastructure needed to keep them running. It designs and assembles electric two- and three-wheelers at its Nairobi assembly plant, and also works with technology and manufacturing partners. In 2022, Japanese automotive supplier Musashi Seimitsu invested in ARC Ride and began working with the company on its power train unit and developing components for two- and three-wheelers.
The company described its batteries as open-architecture and interoperable, meaning it can potentially support multiple motorcycle brands and models. Its technology platform tracks vehicles and battery swaps across the network. ARC Rides added that its swap stations are also designed to operate with solar power to reduce reliance on the grid.
“We back founders building category-defining platforms, and ARC Ride is exactly that,” said Ngetha Waithaka, partner at Norrsken22. “Jo and the team have engineered a Battery-as-a-Service model whose technology, data, and network effects give it the potential to become the open standard the entire ecosystem plugs into. The unit economics are compelling, and the product is winning with riders. We are thrilled to partner with them as they scale.”
In July, ARC Ride announced that it had piloted in South Africa, where it is rolling out its battery-swapping model through the ARC Panther, an electric motorcycle it said is designed for local conditions. The company has been setting up infrastructure in Gauteng and has also completed a pilot in Cape Town. Hurst-Croft said in a LinkedIn post in August that the company had established an assembly plant in South Africa, built its first batch of motorcycles for the market, and cleared the regulatory requirements needed to begin operations.
ARC Ride is operating in a market where Spiro has already built its reputation as one of the biggest players in electric mobility. The electric-mobility company raised $215 million in June 2026 and an additional $55 million three weeks later, bringing its latest funding total to $270 million.
ARC Ride will also compete with companies including Ampersand, Roam, and SUN Mobility, which is also expanding its battery-swapping network across Africa. ARC Ride’s interoperable battery-swapping network could become an important differentiator as competition intensifies.
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