What the business is
Nairobi-based e-mobility company that assembles and sells electric buses with charging and maintenance, financed through a pay-as-you-drive model for fleet operators.
The bet
That separating the bus from the battery — selling the vehicle cheap and charging per kilometer — could make e-buses cheaper than diesel across African cities.
Starting capital
US$6.6M pre-Series A equity (2022); US$42M round in October 2024: US$24M Series A equity led by Africa50 plus US$17.5M debt from DFC and BII
How it started
Jit Bhattacharya and Jonathan Green founded BasiGo in Nairobi in 2021, betting that the economics of public transport, not environmental guilt, would drive electrification: diesel fuel is a huge operating cost for bus operators. It began assembling buses in Kenya in 2022 with components from China's BYD and put the first electric buses into passenger service in Kenya that year.
What happened
BasiGo expanded into Rwanda in 2023 and launched a rider ticketing app. In October 2024 it closed a US$42M round — US$24M in Series A equity led by Africa50 with SBI Holdings, Novastar, CFAO Kenya and others, plus US$17.5M in debt from DFC and BII — the largest investment by an African fund in an e-mobility company, aimed at putting 1,000 e-buses on East African roads.
How it ended up
Still scaling: by late 2025 BasiGo had deployed roughly 100 e-buses across Kenya and Rwanda, added three Nairobi charging depots, and taken follow-on funding from France's Proparco, keeping its 'Road to 1000' target of 1,000 buses by 2027.
What has to be true
Splitting the bus from the battery turned an unaffordable capex purchase into an opex decision, which is how cash-constrained transport operators actually buy.
The founders came from electric-vehicle manufacturing, so the company controlled assembly and charging rather than just selling software.
Kenya and Rwanda offered fast-growing urban transit, low e-bus penetration and development-finance appetite, so one round blended equity and concessional debt.
Diesel costs gave operators an immediate, measurable saving, letting BasiGo sell economics first and climate second.
What can be applied
In markets where buyers can't afford the hardware's full cost, separate the asset from the consumable: selling the bus cheap and charging per kilometer turns a capex problem into an opex decision.
Aftermath
As of the sources checked, BasiGo is live and scaling: roughly 100 electric buses deployed across Kenya and Rwanda by late 2025, three new Nairobi charging depots commissioned in November 2025, and follow-on funding from France's Proparco in December 2025. The company continues local assembly at Kenya Vehicle Manufacturers, operates its pay-as-you-drive financing and rider app, and is pursuing its 'Road to 1000' plan to put 1,000 e-buses into service by 2027, with additional vehicles being added in Rwanda.
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