Spiro Acquires UK Engineering Firm Coexlion to Build First African R&D Centre in Nairobi
Africa's largest electric motorcycle operator is moving to localise its technology development, buying a British engineering and design firm to anchor a new research hub in Kenya.
Spiro has acquired UK-based engineering and design firm Coexlion for an undisclosed sum, with plans to establish its first African research and development centre in Nairobi.
The acquisition gives Spiro greater capacity to design, develop and manufacture electric motorcycles tailored to African road conditions, rider usage patterns and customer requirements. These are capabilities that have been largely absent from the continent’s e-mobility sector, which remains heavily reliant on imported technologies such as batteries and motors, primarily sourced from China.
Spiro’s bikes are currently assembled from knockdown kits imported from China, with some spare parts sourced from India, at its Nairobi assembly plant, which has an annual production capacity of up to 50,000 electric motorcycles. The Coexlion deal is positioned to reduce that dependence over time by embedding design and engineering expertise within its Nairobi operations.
The acquisition comes as Spiro consolidates its standing as the continent’s dominant two-wheel EV operator. The company says it has more than 100,000 electric motorcycles on African roads and operates over 2,500 battery-swapping stations across its markets, which span Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Nigeria, Togo and Benin, where most of its motorcycles are used commercially by boda boda taxi riders.
In Kenya, its flagship market, Spiro commands over 52% of the country’s EV bike market. Data from the Electric Mobility Association of Kenya shows the country had 14,570 registered electric vehicles by the close of 2024, the majority of them electric motorcycles at 8,097.
Kenya’s EV research and development has remained limited despite the country’s growing electric vehicle adoption, making the proposed Nairobi centre a potentially significant addition to the ecosystem. Locating R&D capacity within its largest operating market gives Spiro direct access to real-world usage data, rider feedback and road condition variables that inform product iteration something difficult to replicate from a UK or Chinese engineering base.
The move also aligns with a broader push by Spiro’s backers and financiers to deepen Africa-led industrialisation in the e-mobility sector. The company is backed by a $100 million investment led by Afreximbank’s Fund for Export Development in Africa, with its CEO Kaushik Burman framing the company’s ambition as building “a robust, scalable energy network tailored for Africa by Africans.”
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