The News
- Nearly a month after BasiGo raised $1.5 million (KSh 227 million) to expand into Rwanda, the Kenyan electric mobility startup has received a debt facility of $5 million (KSh766.7 million) from British International Investment (BII) to support its local effort to assemble electric buses.
- This move puts the transportation company at the forefront of the sustainable mobility initiative in the public transportation sector.
- Speaking about this financial support from the UK development finance institution and impact investor on Tuesday, Jonathan Green, Co-founder and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of BasiGO, said, “We are thrilled to receive this catalytic financial support from BII.”
This news comes after the Kenyan mobility startup received delivery of an additional 15 new electric buses cleared at the Port of Mombasa last week, making it the largest consignment of electric buses to come into East Africa.
BasiGo currently operates 19 electric buses on routes throughout Nairobi, with plans to expand that number to 1,000 electric buses across Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda over the next three years.
As the clean energy conversations in Africa continue, Kenya and other African nations are looking for sustainable means to power automobiles as part of efforts to reduce global carbon emissions and minimise the effects of climate change. This partnership between BII and BasiGo has pushed Kenya and the region towards the front of the clean energy race.
“It is a testament to our shared commitment towards building scalable climate solutions here within Africa,” Green added.
Co-founded in 2021 by Jit Bhattacharya and Jonathan Green, BasiGo has played a pivotal role in getting electric buses into Nairobi's public transportation system. So far, the company has sold 19 electric buses to the city’s public transportation companies, with more than 100 already reserved.
In 2022, the e-mobility startup received $6.6 million (KSh804.5 million) from Silicon Valley venture capitalists to begin local electric bus manufacturing and charging infrastructure installation. In the same year, the electric mobility company also released the first line of locally assembled electric buses in collaboration with the Kenya Vehicle Manufacturers.
