{"id":114,"date":"2026-10-13T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.hyperstation.example\/?p=114"},"modified":"2026-10-13T14:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T13:00:00","slug":"max-extends-series-b3-29-million-electric-mobility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsroom.ng\/?p=114","title":{"rendered":"MAX Extends Series B3 to $29m to Grow Electric Motorcycles and Battery Swapping"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>MAX, the Nigerian mobility company known for financing motorcycles for commercial riders, has extended its Series B3 funding round to US$29 million, with new backing from energy-access investor Nithio. The fresh capital is intended to expand the company&#8217;s electric two-wheeler business, including solar-powered charging and battery-swapping infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p>Commercial motorcycles remain an important part of transport and delivery in many Nigerian cities and towns. Fuel costs have risen in recent years, making electric options more attractive if riders can charge or swap batteries quickly and affordably.<\/p>\n<h2>How battery swapping works<\/h2>\n<p>Instead of waiting hours for a battery to charge, a rider pulls into a swap station, exchanges a depleted battery for a fully charged one and returns to the road within minutes. Combining these stations with solar power can reduce dependence on the national grid and generators, both of which can be unreliable or expensive.<\/p>\n<p>MAX has previously focused on helping riders acquire vehicles through pay-as-you-go plans. Moving further into electric vehicles means building both the bikes and the energy network around them.<\/p>\n<h3>Key points<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Round size:<\/strong> Series B3 extended to US$29 million.<\/li>\n<li><strong>New investor:<\/strong> Nithio joined the round.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Use of funds:<\/strong> electric two-wheelers, solar charging and battery swapping.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Customers:<\/strong> commercial riders and delivery operators.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Challenges ahead<\/h2>\n<h2>Background<\/h2>\n<p>Founded in Lagos, MAX has spent several years building a business around vehicle financing and rider services, and has expanded to other parts of the country. Its move into electric two-wheelers mirrors similar efforts in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, where battery-swap networks for motorcycle taxis have grown quickly.<\/p>\n<p>Electric mobility companies in Africa face hurdles including the upfront cost of vehicles, import duties on parts, and the need to build enough swap stations to give riders confidence. Regulations on commercial motorcycles also differ from state to state, with some cities restricting where they can operate. Supporters argue that cleaner bikes could cut running costs for riders and reduce air and noise pollution in busy urban areas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"photo-credit\"><small>Photo: Unsplash (illustrative).<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The mobility company is expanding electric two-wheelers, solar charging and battery-swap stations for riders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":214,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,13],"tags":[46,79,82,110],"class_list":["post-114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-tech","tag-electric-vehicles","tag-max","tag-mobility","tag-startups"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsroom.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsroom.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsroom.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsroom.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsroom.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsroom.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsroom.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsroom.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsroom.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsroom.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}