Dodai, an Ethiopian electric-mobility company, closed a $13m Series A, announced on 28 April 2026. The round combines $8m of equity with $5m of debt, according to Africa Private Equity News, NextBillion and Launchbase Africa. This article treats $8m as the equity raised in the round. No valuation was disclosed.
The investors named were Value Chain Innovation Fund, UTokyo Innovation Platform, Nagase & Co., Persistent ACV Fund, For Seasons, CBC Co., Inclusion Japan and British International Investment (BII). None of the reports named a lead investor.
The money is meant to speed up the rollout of Dodai's electric motorbikes and battery-swapping network in Ethiopia.
The debt and the equity
Ecofin Agency reported that BII committed $5m in debt financing as part of the round. The transaction was supported by the Africa Resilience Investment Accelerator, which BII co-funds with FMO and Proparco, according to that report. The remaining $8m came from the equity investors.
What Dodai does
Dodai assembles electric motorbikes in Ethiopia and runs a network where riders swap depleted batteries for charged ones. Ecofin said this cuts downtime and reduces reliance on conventional charging. Launchbase Africa reported that a unit costs about 150,000 birr, roughly $1,170, and gave a price range of $1,170 to $1,800.
Dodai was founded about three years before the announcement, according to Africa Private Equity News. Launchbase Africa named Yuma Sasaki as founder and chief executive, said he set the company up in Addis Ababa, where its assembly facility is, and said it employs about 100 people, 97% of them Ethiopian. Ecofin also put the headcount at about 100.
Traction and targets
The company says it has deployed more than 2,000 electric motorbikes. Hilina Legesse, senior vice president and head of corporate, said in a statement reported by Africa Private Equity News that in two years Dodai has deployed over 2,000 electric motorcycles, enabling more than 2,000 riders to earn a living.
Over the next 12 months Dodai aims to open 30 battery-swapping stations in Addis Ababa and reach 3,000 active swapping users. Launchbase Africa and Ecofin reported longer-term goals of 1,000 stations and 30,000 users in Addis Ababa within three years. Ecofin added that the company plans to expand to Abidjan, Kinshasa, Accra and Dar es Salaam over a longer period, though the other reports did not mention those cities.
What investors said
Leslie Maasdorp, chief executive of BII, called Ethiopia one of Africa's most compelling frontier markets for the clean-mobility transition, according to Africa Private Equity News. Launchbase Africa quoted Sasaki on the importance of prioritising network expansion and utilisation over short-term profitability. Sasaki also said, according to Launchbase Africa, that many e-mobility solutions imported from developed markets are poorly suited to Ethiopian conditions. Africa Private Equity News described Dodai's motorbikes as locally assembled.
The reports did not describe any earlier funding for Dodai or give its revenue.