Kofa, a Ghana-based clean energy startup that offers battery-swapping infrastructure, has raised $8.1 million in pre-Series A funding. Kofa will use the new funding, a mix of equity and debt, to expand its battery-swapping infrastructure across Ghana and Kenya. It will also support the deployment of new swap stations, the purchase of battery inventory, and the scaling of its AI-driven energy management platform.
E3 Capital, one of Africa’s largest early-stage climate-tech venture capital funds and Injaro Investment Advisors, a Ghanaian private capital fund manager, co-led the round with participation from Shell Foundation and other high-profile European angel investors in the battery industry.
Launched in 2021, Kofa operates as an energy company that focuses exclusively on delivering and managing energy through its swappable batteries. At the core of Kofa’s model is a battery-swapping network: users—gig workers, motorbike riders, or microbusiness owners—pay about $1 per swap to replace a depleted battery with a fully charged one in under two minutes.
Kofa is among startups building clean energy alternatives on a continent still crippled by unreliable electricity. Investors are paying attention—clean energy startups raised over $180 million in Q1 2025 alone. However, Kofa stands out in its focus on being a core energy company, unlike other African clean energy startups —Rwanda’s Ampersand and Kenya’s BasiGo—which offer vertically integrated solutions that bundle vehicle manufacturing, leasing, and energy provision.
Kofa’s unbundled approach avoids manufacturing and retail entirely. The startup partners with large-scale vehicle distributors and lets them handle sales and logistics. Its energy-as-a-service model makes Kofa the clean-energy backbone, much like Shell or MTN in their respective sectors.
“We think trying to capture the whole value chain is the wrong play here,” Erik Nygard, CEO and co-founder of Kofa, told TechCabal in an interview. “It ignores the reality on the ground. In Africa, scale happens through partnerships, not vertical integration.”
Kofa’s batteries are manufactured in China and integrated into vehicles built by partners like Chinese OEM TailG. Kofa itself does not own the batteries; they are financed by asset investors. This asset-light model allows Kofa to focus solely on delivering reliable energy and managing logistics with its AI optimization software, Nygard says.
“Our investment in Kofa is about more than just backing a promising energy company; it’s about supporting a solution that delivers tangible economic benefits for local communities,” said Jerry Parkes, Managing Director of Injaro Investment Advisors.
“We are also excited to deploy Ghanaian capital in support of a visionary and experienced founder driving sustainable energy innovation in Africa.”
A $30 billion market opportunity
Sub-Saharan Africa spends approximately $30 billion annually on petrol for motorcycles and small generators. Kofa’s battery swapping model can deliver power at 20–30% lower cost than petrol, presenting an enormous savings opportunity for consumers and businesses.
“Even 10% of that market is $3 billion in revenue,” Nygard noted. “And that’s while saving people money. That’s the win-win.”
Kofa currently operates 10 swap stations in Accra, with plans to build out 40 stations across Accra and Kumasi in the next few months. It has also started expanding into Kenya. Kofa facilitates about 200 swaps per day today, a figure the company expects to grow sharply as its partner network and customer base scale.
The startup is not yet profitable, but Nygard is clear-eyed about the path forward.
“Profitability at this stage isn’t the goal — scale is,” he said. “This is a capital deployment
