The global push to electrify Africa’s public transport sector is accelerating, with Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) firmly establishing themselves as the primary capital source. The latest significant transaction comes from France’s Proparco, the private sector arm of the French Development Agency (AFD), which has announced an investment in Nairobi-based electric bus startup BasiGo. The funding will directly fuel BasiGo’s ambitious expansion plans across key East African markets, specifically Kenya and Rwanda. While the precise financial amount committed by Proparco remains undisclosed, the strategic intent is to rapidly accelerate the transition away from high-polluting, diesel-powered public service vehicles in some of the world’s most rapidly expanding urban centers.
BasiGo, founded in 2021, employs a powerful, integrated model that addresses multiple barriers to adoption simultaneously. The company focuses on local assembly of electric buses, develops the necessary charging infrastructure, and importantly, offers vehicles to bus operators through an innovative, accessible Pay-As-You-Drive financing model. The company currently boasts a fleet of 100 electric buses operating across Nairobi and Kigali, which have already successfully carried over nine million passengers and clocked more than 1.4 million kilometres in service. Regional Director for East Africa at Proparco, Jean Guyonnet-Dupérat, confirmed the investment directly links to the AFD Group’s significant climate commitments under the Paris Agreement, highlighting its role in unlocking cleaner, reliable mass public transport.
For BasiGo, this capital is critical for scaling its operations, including increasing local assembly capacity and accelerating its long-term objective, the “Road to 1000” electric buses, which the CEO, Jit Bhattacharya, described as a powerful endorsement of their vision for African cities. This deal is indicative of a profound industry trend: a new analysis of 2025 funding data by Launch Base Africa reveals the African e-mobility sector is overwhelmingly reliant on development finance and climate funds, with traditional venture capital playing a notably diminished role.
Excluding the major outlier deal—a $100 million investment into pan-African operator Spiro from FEDA (the Fund for Export Development in Africa)—the average funding round size in the sector lingers at approximately $5 million. In fact, development finance institutions and climate-focused investors collectively account for an estimated 70% of all disclosed capital flowing into the African e-mobility sector this year. This concentration underscores the pivotal challenge facing startups like BasiGo: proving commercial viability strong enough to eventually attract purely profit-driven investors and ultimately break their dependence on patient DFI capital.
