BasiGo get funding to further electric bus transport

BasiGo are a Kenyan electric vehicle technology company that is bringing electric bus services into Sub-Saharan Africa. They recently received seed funding of US$4.3 million in efforts to commercialize their business and assemble electric buses locally.

Novastar Venutres took lead in this seed round alongside Moxxie Ventures, Nimble Partners, Spring Ventures, Climate Capital, and Third Derivative.

The company offers state-of-the-art electric buses in addition to charging and maintenance services to bus operators. New financing has allowed operators to pay for the battery and charging independently from the bus through a pay-as-you-go system.

“We’re delighted to work with Novastar, Moxxie, and these amazing investors,” said Jit Bhattacharya, CEO and co-founder of BasiGo.

Additionally, the firm has built an advanced charging ad maintenance facility for the electric buses next to Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airpot. Every BasiGo electric bus helps reduce air pollution and climate-warming emissions caused by the more common diesel buses. The electric buses are able to do this as 73 per cent of Kenya’s electricity comes from renewable sources.

BasiGo plans to use the funds to sell and deliver electric buses this year. Furthermore, the firm aims to begin assembling the buses locally in Kenya.

Public bus operators can purchase an electric bus for the same upfront cost as a diesel-powered vehicle using BasiGo’s “pay-as-you-drive” financing system.

BasiGo wants to deploy over 1,000 locally made electric buses in Nairobi over the next five years using this model.