- BasiGo Rwanda has received a RWF 300 million ($225,000) recoverable grant from Ireme Invest, the Rwanda Green Fund’s green investment facility, to upgrade its charging infrastructure to support its growing fleet of electric public transport buses in Kigali.
- The EV company will also establish a charging station capable of supporting at least 20 electric buses in one night.
This funding comes a year after the Kenyan EV startup expanded into Rwanda to deliver 200 electric buses to transport operators using BasiGo’s Pay-As-You-Drive financing model.
Following the move into Rwanda, BasiGo raised $1.5 million in funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to expand its operations in the country.
In March 2024, it also raised $3 million in equity funding from CFAO Group to expand its electric bus production in Kenya and Rwanda.
On the new funding, Doreen Orishaba, BasiGo Rwanda Managing Director, said, “BasiGo electric buses have over the last seven months of operation demonstrated the new standard for safe, comfortable, and low-carbon public transportation solutions and helped to reduce emissions.”
The CEO and Co-Founder of BasiGo, Jit Bhattacharya, noted that the company’s “experience and innovative Pay-As-You-Drive financing model are well-positioned to help Rwanda transition to fully electrified public transport.”
The startup mentioned that it introduced the R10 Rumuri, Kigali’s first fully electric bus with a capacity of 70 passengers, in December 2023, aligning with the government’s initiative to scale Kigali’s public transport fleet.
BasiGo Rwanda said it is among nine innovative businesses offering solutions with high potentials across three of Ireme Invest’s investment areas. Also, the Rwanda Green Fund acknowledged that BasiGo is among the companies contributing to the country’s climate action and sustainable development goals.
As of July 2024, BasiGo EVs in Kigali had served over 300,000 passengers, generating more than RWF 147 million in fare revenue for the operators. Regarding green impact, it reported mitigating over 60 tonnes of CO2 and avoiding 26,662 litres of diesel consumption.
In other news, BasiGo in Kenya recently moved to launch an electric bus production line at the Kenya Vehicle Manufacturers plant in Thika. The launch is said to be the country’s first specialised assembly line for modern electric buses.
