Addis Ababa e-mobility startup Dodai raises $13M Series A to scale battery swapping

What's the deal? Dodai, an Ethiopian electric mobility company, has closed a $13 million Series A made up of $8 million in equity and $5 million in debt. Investors include British International Investment (BII), the UK's development finance institution, alongside a group of mainly Japanese backers: Seino & Spiral Capital's Value Chain Innovation Fund, UTokyo Innovation Platform (IPC), Nagase, Persistent ACV Fund, For Seasons, CBC and ICJ.

Context Dodai assembles and deploys electric motorbikes in Ethiopia and runs the battery-swapping network that powers them. Within 12 months it aims to reach 3,000 battery-swapping users served by 30 stations across Addis Ababa. Within three years it is targeting 30,000 users and 1,000 stations, before moving into other African cities such as Abidjan, Kinshasa, Accra and Dar es Salaam.

Source TechCabal, 28 April 2026; Dodai press release; Disrupt Africa, 11 May 2026