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Dodai today announced the successful closing of its $13 million Series A financing round, comprising $8 million in equity and $5 million in debt, to accelerate the rollout of electric motorbikes and battery swapping infrastructure in Ethiopia. The round includes participation from Value Chain Innovation Fund, UTokyo Innovation Platform Co., Ltd., Nagase & Co., Ltd., Persistent ACV Fund, For Seasons, CBC Co., Ltd., and Inclusion Japan, alongside British International Investment (BII).
Three years ago, Dodai started with a simple belief: urban electric mobility should be accessible to everyone. While much of Africa’s startup ecosystem has concentrated on markets such as #Kenya, #Nigeria, #Egypt, and #SouthAfrica, Dodai chose to build in #AddisAbaba, a city with massive unmet demand for affordable transportation, rapidly growing e-commerce, and a need for job creation. At the same time, Ethiopia has taken a bold step by banning the import of fuel-powered vehicles, creating strong structural momentum toward electrification. Dodai saw the opportunity early—and moved first. In just three years, Dodai has locally assembled and deployed over 2,000 electric motorbikes. The company has also built a team of approximately 100 employees, 97% of whom are Ethiopian.
With this new funding, Dodai is entering its next phase of growth. Over the next 12 months, the company aims to reach 3K battery swapping users supported by 30 battery swapping stations across Addis Ababa. Within three years, Dodai is building toward 30K users and 1K battery swapping stations across Addis Ababa, before expanding into other fast-growing urban markets across Africa such as #Abidjan, #Kinshasa and #Accra.
Leslie Maasdorp CEO, British International Investment (BII) said, “Ethiopia is emerging as one of Africa’s most compelling frontier markets for the clean mobility transition, where the right capital can unlock outsized impact and long-term value. BII’s investment will support Dodai to scale critical e-mobility
and battery-swapping infrastructure and accelerate the development of a commercial market for electric motorbikes. By expanding access to affordable transport, Dodai is empowering entrepreneurs, creating
jobs, and helping build a stronger, more competitive urban economy in Ethiopia.”
Hilina Legesse, SVP and Head of Corporate, Dodai, said “This investment reflects growing confidence from international investors in our team’s ability to turn real-world challenges into opportunities to solve. In just two years, we have deployed over 2,000 electric motorcycles, enabling more than 2,000 riders to earn a living. From overnight assembly to building operations from the ground up, every constraint became something we chose to take on and solve with our team and partners on the ground. We will now accelerate and scale this impact even further.”
