ARC Ride has closed a $33.3 million financing round led by Novastar Ventures and Norrsken22, capital the Kenyan electric mobility startup will use to expand its battery swapping network across four new African markets while adding 5,000 electric motorcycles to its existing fleet.
The round combines a $23 million Series A equity component with $10 million in debt, bringing together venture capital, development finance and climate focused debt in a single financing package.
Breaking Down the ARC Ride $33.3 Million Funding
The ARC Ride $33.3 million funding round drew a notably diverse investor base for a company at this stage.
Alongside lead investors Novastar Ventures and Norrsken22, the equity round included the International Finance Corporation, British International Investment and Proparco as co-investors, while existing backers Musashi Seimitsu, a Japanese Tier-1 automotive supplier, and Talanton, an African impact investor, both reinvested.
The debt portion came from British International Investment’s Kinetic programme and Mirova, a French asset manager focused on sustainable investing, and follows a $10 million debt facility ARC Ride had already closed back in September 2025.
That mix of investor types, venture capital for growth, development finance for impact aligned capital, an industrial partner for supply chain credibility, and climate focused debt for infrastructure buildout, reflects how capital stacks for African e-mobility infrastructure have matured well beyond straightforward equity rounds.
The Battery Swapping Africa E-Mobility Model Behind the Raise
Battery swapping Africa e-mobility infrastructure sits at the center of ARC Ride’s pitch to investors.
The company operates a Battery-as-a-Service model, meaning it does not sell electric motorcycles or batteries outright but instead rents access to both, letting riders swap a depleted battery for a fully charged one at a network of stations in a matter of minutes rather than waiting hours to recharge from an outlet.
That design directly addresses what has been one of the biggest obstacles to electric vehicle adoption on the continent, the high upfront cost of batteries, which can rival the price of the vehicle itself.
By removing that upfront cost and replacing it with a pay per swap or subscription style model, ARC Ride lowers the barrier for commercial riders who depend on their vehicles for daily income and cannot absorb a large capital outlay before they start earning.
Norrsken22 partner Ngetha Waithaka described the appeal of the model in terms that go beyond a single company’s growth, saying ARC Ride’s technology, data and network effects give it the potential to become the open standard the entire ecosystem plugs into, and that the unit economics are compelling with the product already winning with riders.
Novastar Norrsken22 ARC Ride and What Each Investor Brings
The Novastar Norrsken22 ARC Ride partnership pairs two venture firms with established track records in African technology investing.
Novastar Ventures co-founder and managing partner Steve Beck framed ARC Ride’s contribution in infrastructure terms, saying the company is helping solve one of the biggest barriers to electric mobility in Africa, reliable and extensive battery swapping infrastructure, and pointed to the company’s electric motorcycles, designed specifically for commercial riders, as evidence the model is proving itself in Kenya while expanding into Ghana, Uganda and South Africa.
British International Investment’s head of Africa, Chris Chijiutomi, tied the investment to the institution’s climate mandate directly, describing electric two-wheeler infrastructure as a key pillar of BII’s climate strategy, a framing that captures why development finance institutions have been willing to put meaningful capital behind battery swapping infrastructure specifically, rather than funding vehicle purchases alone.
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ARC Ride Kenya Expansion and the Road Into New Markets
The ARC Ride Kenya expansion plans extend well beyond the company’s home market. With the new capital, ARC Ride intends to deepen its existing Kenyan operations while entering Ghana, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda, building out platform and battery swapping infrastructure and operational scale across both existing and new territories.
The company piloted its model in South Africa back in July, rolling out its battery swapping approach through the ARC Panther, an electric motorcycle the company says was designed specifically for local conditions there, suggesting the South African launch was already underway ahead of this funding round rather than starting from scratch with the new capital.
Kenya itself offers a clear illustration of the demand ARC Ride is positioning to serve.
The country’s registered electric vehicles jumped nearly 30-fold between 2022 and 2025, a growth curve that is intensifying the race among e-mobility companies to build out the charging and battery swapping infrastructure needed to support that expanding fleet.
Why the Geographic Test Matters More Than the Funding Itself
The real test facing ARC Ride is not the size of this round but whether a swapping network that has proven itself in Nairobi can be replicated with similar economics in Accra, Kampala and Johannesburg, markets where rider income patterns, electricity tariffs and regulatory environments all differ meaningfully from Kenya’s.
Battery swapping networks are also capital intensive by nature, requiring substantial upfront investment in stations, battery inventory and logistics before the business turns cash flow positive, which is part of why the debt components from BII’s Kinetic programme and Mirova carry repayment obligations that pure equity investors do not require.
ARC Ride founder Jo Hurst Croft described the company’s ambition as making electric mobility the default choice for riders across Africa, by making it more accessible, more affordable and more practical than petrol alternatives, and framed the new funding as what allows the company to scale the underlying infrastructure required for that shift at pace.
What Comes Next
With equity and debt capital now secured, ARC Ride’s next phase will be judged less on capital raised and more on execution across genuinely different markets simultaneously.
If the company can replicate its Kenyan battery swapping economics in Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania and South Africa, it would strengthen its position as one of the continent’s leading Battery-as-a-Service providers at a moment when governments and investors alike are increasingly viewing electric two- and three-wheeler infrastructure as a meaningful lever for reducing dependence on imported petroleum products across African cities.
