The year 2024 has got off to a good start for BasiGo. The Kenyan-based mobility start-up recently raised $5 million from British International Investment (BII) via its Climate Innovation Fund, for the assembly of 1,000 electric buses and their commercial delivery in East Africa. The deal follows a marathon financing round over the past three years.
BasiGo has successfully completed several rounds of financing, raising $1 million in 2021 and up to $10.9 million in 2022 from other investors such as Keiki Capital. But the start-up will have to make this new UK funding profitable, since it is in fact a loan. But founder Jit Bhattacharya is not worried insofar as the company, which was set up in 2017, is banking on pay-as-you-drive to acquire its vehicles.
This business model is proving popular with public transport operators in the region, which is one of the most polluted on the African continent. The new investment supported by London should therefore help to further accelerate the decarbonisation of the transport sector, particularly in the Kenyan capital Nairobi and in Kigali in Rwanda, where tax incentives are favourable to electromobility.
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“Each electric bus deployed in place of a diesel bus mitigates more than 50 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year”, says BasiGo. This view is shared by Chris Chijiutomi. According to the Managing Director and Head of Africa at BII, it is imperative to support the development of eco-responsible solutions, particularly “cutting-edge technologies that can transform the lives of communities”.
Benoit-Ivan Wansi