NopeaRide, a Kenyan taxi-hailing service, and electric mobility have wound up its operations, due to the declaration of insolvency by its majority shareholder EkoRent Oy, in Finland.
As a result of this, Infraco limited, the minority shareholder filed for the liquidation of Eko Rent Africa limited, a subsidiary of the company in Kenya’s high court.
This upheaval negatively impacted NopeaRide as it struggled to stay afloat, which forced it to take away its fleet of cars off the road, shutting down its operation.
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The company said in a statement,
“We have taken our fleet of electric vehicles off the road and have notified our staff and corporate clients. We are now working with relevant authorities to ensure that our operations are wound up in accordance with local legislation,” said NopeaRide in a statement.
“We would like to extend our deepest regret to our dedicated team of staff and drivers. We would also like to thank our loyal NopeaRide customers, corporate clients, and other partners who have supported NopeaRide’s vision for electric mobility in Africa.”
NopeaRide was Africa’s first electric taxi company and delivery service with its operations in Kenya. The company through its electric vehicles was on a mission to provide environmentally friendly mobility solutions and clean energy services.
In 2021, NopeaRide announced that it would increase the number of cars in its fleet from 30 to 100 as part of a growth strategy.
In the first quarter (Q1) of 2022, NopeaRide traffic numbers grew exponentially as it began to put more effort into its corporate segment as most of its employees signed contracts with a few big international companies, some of them potentially reserving the majority of available Nopea capacity.
Since its launch 5 years ago, the startup has imported 70 electric vehicles to Kenya that had driven more than 4 000 000 kilometers by June 2022, saving over 650 tons of CO2 emissions.
NopeaRide also operated the largest electric vehicle charging network in East Africa.