Opibus: one of the world's 100 most influential companies in 2022

Opibus, a start-up founded in 2017 by Filip Gardler, as a Swedish student in Master of Science Energy Systems and Associated Markets at Grenoble INP – Ense³, UGA, with his classmates Filip Lövström and Mikael Gånge, students at Linköping University (Sweden), has been selected by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential companies in the world in 2022.

The 1st electric mobility company listed in Africa


Opibus is an e-mobility and renewable energy company that is operating the first factory producing electric vehicles in East Africa, with around 100 employees. Its mission is to accelerate the transition towards sustainable energy and transport solutions in East Africa, by introducing new technologies and redesigning industries. It works on e-mobility for public transport buses, and commercial and heavy vehicles. The start-up both distributes and sets up charging infrastructure on and off the network.

In November 2021, the Swedish-Kenyan start-up fundraised $7.5 million.


Ranked among the biggest companies


Filip Garler also co-founded the retrofitting* start-up Phoenix Mobility  with four other students from Grenoble INP – Ense³, when he was still a student. He celebrated on LinkedIn, “I am completely blown away by this achievement - to be listed alongside international giants like Microsoft, Tesla, Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd. (CATL), Spotify etc. once again proves the importance that we have for emerging markets all around the world. Another thing to remember is that ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE. To go from a small start-up to this level of international recognition would have been unimaginable when I launched Opibus (...)”

Read the article in Time:


*Retrofitting: replacing a vehicle's combustion engine that uses petrol or diesel with an electric motor that uses batteries or hydrogen (fuel cells), thereby eliminating toxic emissions.