Spiro Just Raised $50M in Debt to Flood Africa With Electric Motorcycles. The Real Question: Can Battery Swaps Actually Scale?

With 80,000 e-bikes deployed, 30 million battery swaps completed, and $230 million raised since 2022, the Kenya-based startup dominates Africa’s electric two-wheeler market. But rapid growth is exposing the operational limits of battery-swapping infrastructure — and debt financing only works if the cash flows stay predictable.