Roam is a Swedish electric mobility company that designs and develops electric motorcycles with swappable batteries and electric buses for emerging markets, starting in Kenya.
Founded in 2017, Roam is the first company to supply locally designed and developed electric motorcycles and electric buses in Kenya. Today, the company has over 200 employees. Roam offers supporting infrastructure, fleet management software and after-sales services to enable an ecosystem that accelerates the transition to sustainable transport on new frontier markets.
The company’s vision is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and slim costs for customers by providing low-cost, and low-emission public transport solutions. The focus on public transport vehicles maximizes impact, as they are some of the highest carbon-emitting vehicles on the market and the vast population across Kenya primarily relies on public transport to get around.
– We have three million customers we can address in East Africa alone. Here, it is not a luxury product, it is for the common man. People should be able to get to work in the absolute cheapest way. Put simply, we can remove a zero in reduced cost, and a couple of zeros in reduced emissions, says Albin Wilson, Chief Product Officer at Roam.
An exciting 2024
In February 2024, the company secured 24 million dollars in investment. The capital injection will be used to invest in increased production capacity in Kenya, where operations will be scaled up with a new factory, increased development and refining the local and global supply chains.
The Series A funding round was led by Equator Africa and includes investments from At One Ventures, TES Ventures, Renew Capital, The World We Want, and One Small Planet, among other prominent private and institutional investors.
In April 2024, Roam and County Bus Service partnered to deploy 200 electric buses on Kenyan roads by 2026, starting with 10 electric buses by the end of 2024.
Next steps
Having successfully launched a range of vehicles across various segments, Roam has demonstrated the effectiveness and financial viability of electric deployment in one of the most challenging terrains worldwide.
Roam’s efforts not only save customers significant fuel expenses but also contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions, combatting the urgent issue of global climate change.
In the coming years, Roam is looking to expand into multiple global markets, streamlining implementation processes, enhancing fleet efficiency, and driving down costs. Over the next decade, the aim is to create a profound positive impact on the world.
