Ampersand Rwanda Ltd, Africa’s first electric mobility and financing company, has received a $9 million credit facility to help boost its operations in Rwanda, the continent’s largest operating market, and to fund its geographic growth in East Africa, notably in Kenya.
By 2022, the Rwandan mobility startup hopes to produce “thousands of electric motorcycles” for sale on the Rwandan and Kenyan markets.
This is its first operation in Africa in the field of electric mobility by the American development finance institution.
“We are delighted to have the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) on board, for this investment which provides the necessary impetus to electrify East Africa’s 5 million motorcycle taxis by 2030. The support from the DFC demonstrates the viability and possibility of investing in electric two-wheelers for mass market customers in sub-Saharan Africa,” said Josh Whale, CEO of Ampersand.
This credit facility adds to Ampersand’s $ 4 million financing from the venture capital fund Ecosystem Integrity Fund (EIF) and Total Energies in April.
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Ampersand claims to have given its fleet of 56 drivers with over 50,000 battery exchanges for over more than 2 million kilometers since its commercial launch in May 2019.
Why The Investors Invested
Launched in 2019, and headquartered in Kigali, Rwanda, Ampersand manufactures and finances electric motorcycles (‘emotos’ or ‘e-bodas’) that are less expensive, cleaner, and more efficient than the 5 million petrol motorcycle taxis that are currently in use across East Africa. Ampersand also owns and operates a network of battery swap stations, which allow drivers to change batteries faster than they can fill up their gas tank. The motorcycles are assembled in Rwanda using parts imported from a variety of sources.
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The startup’s fleet of 35 drivers and e-motos has travelled over 1.3 million kilometres since its commercial launch in May 2019, and over 7000 drivers are on the waiting list.
“We design and build the battery packs ourselves. Our fleet of connected batteries, vehicles and network of swap stations is also run on a proprietary software platform, which we created ourselves in Rwanda,” Josh said.
Ampersand mobility Kenya Ampersand mobility Kenya
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning write