A Kenyan startup building a network of battery-swap stations for electric motorcycles appears to have closed one of East Africa's larger mobility rounds this year, though the company itself has stayed quiet about the deal.
ARC Ride raised $33.3 million in a Series A led by Novastar Ventures and Norrsken22, according to a report published Monday by The Condia. The company has not confirmed the funding, and the figure lacks independent corroboration. If accurate, the round would push ARC Ride's total capital—counting earlier debt and equity commitments disclosed over the past few years—past $50 million.
That figure reflects a steady accumulation of backing from development-finance institutions and impact investors drawn to the battery-as-a-service model in a market where motorcycle taxis dominate urban transport. British International Investment committed $5 million, as reported on May 22, 2025, and the International Finance Corporation disclosed plans to invest as much as $5 million in equity to support the Series A, according to IFC project filings. Mirova's Gigaton Fund committed up to $10 million in senior secured debt last September, the firm said in a release at the time.
The Condia's report named Novastar and Norrsken22 as co-leads, but neither venture firm has issued a press release or public confirmation of the round as of Monday. Novastar Ventures listed ARC Ride as a portfolio company of its Fund III last November and mentioned the relationship again when that fund reached final close several months later. Norrsken Foundation wrote on LinkedIn that ARC Ride "recently received investment from the Norrsken22 Fund," though the fund's own portfolio page does not explicitly include the startup. The ambiguity is not unusual in African venture deals, where announcements sometimes lag closes by months.
Founded in 2020 by Joseph Hurst-Croft, ARC Ride provides electric motorcycles and a swapping network to riders who would otherwise operate petrol bikes in Nairobi's crowded taxi market. Drivers subscribe to battery-swap plans rather than buying batteries outright, which lowers the upfront cost of going electric. The company operates automated swap cabinets and staffed hubs across the capital, and Hurst-Croft wrote on LinkedIn in August that ARC Ride is expanding "across East, West and Southern Africa."
The network has grown quickly in a concentrated geography. ARC Ride had around 170 battery-swap stations in Nairobi as of May 22, 2025, according to coverage of the BII investment. The company's LinkedIn page referenced more than 250 stations in a post from around March 2026, suggesting the rollout accelerated through the latter half of last year. The company lists 11 to 50 employees, with a Nairobi operating headquarters and a London corporate address.
The IFC's proposed $5 million investment aims to increase swap-station density and service capacity in Kenya, enter new African markets, and fund research-and-development upgrades to meet emerging standards. What those standards will look like remains an open question—battery interoperability is a persistent challenge across operators, with riders unable to swap batteries between competing networks, according to reporting by the Associated Press earlier this year. ARC Ride markets a "one platform, one battery" ecosystem and has participated in pilot projects with Strathmore University and Imperial College London on battery-as-a-service standardization, according to a 2023 report by the Partnership for Green Growth.
The company has also attracted strategic partners outside the venture and impact-investment world. Japanese auto-parts maker Musashi Seimitsu announced investments in ARC Ride in August 2022 and August 2023 to support joint development of powertrains for electric two- and three-wheelers and the buildout of an assembly plant in Nairobi. Asset-financing partner Watu Credit backed the Nairobi assembly and station rollout, as reported by Business Daily Africa in 2023.
"This investment will directly support Kenya's transition to a low-carbon economy, aligning with national climate goals for 2030," Seema Dhanani, BII's head of office in Kenya, said in May 2025 when BII announced its $5 million commitment. Hurst-Croft said at the time that the BII partnership "marks a significant milestone" in the company's plan to create "Africa's first and largest automated battery swapping network."
ARC Ride is chasing that ambition in an increasingly crowded field. Spiro, which operates in multiple countries, closed a $215 million equity round mid-last year and a $50 million debt facility a few months earlier, according to coverage by the Associated Press. Roam, a Kenyan electric-vehicle manufacturer, raised a $24 million Series A in February 2024 and secured $10 million in debt from the U.S. Development Finance Corporation last year, TechCrunch reported. Ampersand, active in Rwanda and Kenya, raised funding through August 2025 to scale to 13,000 electric motorcycles and reported 75,000 battery swaps per week as of August 2024, the company said in a release.
Policy tailwinds may help all the players. Kenya launched a National Electric Mobility Policy in early 2026, which the Ministry of Roads and Transport said "provides a clear and enabling framework for the adoption, regulation and expansion of electric mobility in Kenya." The policy follows years of informal EV adoption in Nairobi's motorcycle-taxi sector, driven by lower operating costs for riders. Hurst-Croft said in a 2022 Reuters feature that "Kenya's consistent power supply which is about 95% renewable … was a major support for growth of the sector."
Whether ARC Ride can leverage that policy support and its Series A capital to catch larger rivals remains to be seen. For now, the company's silence on the round leaves room for speculation about timing, terms, and next steps.
