Union Square, Algebra back Cairo-based electric mobility company

Cairo-based electric mobility start-up Shift EV has closed a series A funding round from Union Square Ventures, Algebra Ventures, and Wamda, as well as first-time investor otf Jasoor Ventures. The round marks Union Square’s first investment in the MENA region.

Founded in 2020, Shift has developed a retrofitting process based on proprietary Lego-like, locally manufactured batteries that can turn any conventional vehicle into an EV. Its October plant takes an assembly-line approach to convert fleets of minivans and tricycles. Shift takes less than a few hours per vehicle to do the conversion. It has a subscription business model, a batteries-as-a-service approach.

There are at least 25 million commercial vehicles on the roads in emerging markets and 1.5 million in Egypt alone. The cost of a new electric passenger car is very high in emerging-markets terms. The cost of retrofitting is a fraction of the cost of a new EV.

Tarek Assaad of Algebra Ventures has likened Shift’s tech to Lego, “You pull the engine and drivetrain, then snap together a battery package out of Lego-like blocks that make optimum use of the engine compartment.”

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