Across Africa, rapid urbanization, rising fuel costs, and the increasing impacts of climate change are intensifying the urgency for cleaner, more efficient mobility solutions. Electric mobility offers a promising alternative, providing a pathway to more resilient and sustainable transport systems, with local innovators developing cleaner mobility solutions tailored to the local contexts. The Clean Energy and Energy Inclusion for Africa (CEI Africa), under its Framework Agreement with Energise Africa, is providing funding to one such innovator.
Earlier in 2025, CEI Africa had extended its Framework Agreement with Energise Africa to co-finance qualified innovators in the access-to-clean-energy sector, alongside retail investors who invest via Energise Africa’s platform. Introducing Roam Electric – a technology-led electric mobility company pioneering the shift to cleaner transport in emerging markets, with an initial presence in Kenya. Roam designs and produces electric motorcycles and buses designed for everyday transport needs across African cities. Its core mission is to electrify vehicle transport in ways that reflect the realities of African roads and economies, ultimately improving the lives of riders.
Filip Lövström, CEO & Co-founder of Roam commented, “Roam’s mission has always been to make electric mobility accessible and affordable across Africa, driving both economic opportunity and environmental impact. By building locally, we’re not only reducing transport emissions but also creating hundreds of skilled jobs across the region. With the support from EA and CEIA, we’ve been able to accelerate our growth, scale local production, and bring our technology to more riders and businesses than ever before.”
As a manufacturing business, working capital is essential to produce and deliver vehicles to customers at scale, and the support from Energise Africa has played a critical role in maintaining this working capital cycle, enabling Roam to continue expanding production and bringing affordable, clean mobility solutions to the market. Ray Coyle, the CEO of Energise Africa, stated, “Energise Africa has been investing in Roam since July 2024 and is proud that our investors have invested over £2m to fund the delivery of 1,690 electric bikes to riders in Kenya, saving riders money every day with lower running costs and delivering a saving of over 5.6m KgCO2 annually. Match funding from CEI Africa has helped us to accelerate this funding, improving lives, reducing pollution and CO2, and increasing our support for Roam to drive the electric vehicle revolution in Africa.”
CEI Africa, together with retail investors on the Energise Africa platform, invested GBP 700,000 in Roam to deliver their electric motorcycles across Kenya. This funding approach accelerates the company’s access to the capital required for business expansion. The investment has enabled the deployment of over 1,000 electric motorcycles and would save over 3.3mkgCO2 annually. With the joint support from CEI Africa and Energise Africa, Roam is accelerating its mission of advancing a cleaner and more sustainable transportation system in Africa.
About Roam
Roam is a Kenyan electric mobility company creating transport solutions for Africa. Recognized globally as an Earthshot Prize finalist and one of Norrsken’s 2024 Impact/100 startups, Roam is driving the continent’s shift to electric mobility. Its 6,000-kilometer solar-powered journey from Nairobi to Stellenbosch on the Roam Air proved the practicality of electric transport. In 2025, the Financial Times named Roam as Kenya’s fastest-growing company and Africa’s fastest-growing e-mobility company.
About Energise Africa
Established with support from UKAid and Virgin Unite in 2017, Energise Africa is a professionally managed Crowdlender with a strong track-record in providing debt capital to SMEs in the access to energy sector across Sub-Saharan Africa. Since incorporation, Energise Africa has provided in excess of £46m in debt funding to 220 projects across 18 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. This funding has helped to transform the lives of over a million people through access to clean energy and clean transport.
About CEI Africa
CEI Africa was established by the German development finance institution KfW on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in 2021 to improve access to energy for rural and peri-urban households and enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2022, the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) joined as a contributor to CEI Africa. CEI Africa is managed by Triple Jump and implemented together with partners Persistent and GreenMax Capital Group. CEI Africa works with financiers, off-grid solar and mini-grid experts, to develop investment solutions that bridge the financing gap in the most challenging access to energy sub-sectors.
