Kaushik Burman

Kaushik Burman is a business executive, who has been the CEO of Spiro, Africa’s e-mobility company since August 2023. Previously he has held leadership positions at Fortune 500 companies and early-stage clean energy startup to commercial scale.

Early life and education Kaushik was born in Kolkata, India. He completed his high school from Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet, which has a notable alumni network (Satya Nadella, Ajay Banga and Shantanu Narayan). Burman attended the National Defence Academy (NDA) in Khadakwasla, Pune. He secured an All India Rank of 7 (AIR 7) and was selected for the Indian Air Force. At the academy, he was a cadet of Foxtrot Squadron. Kaushik earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University College of Engineering, Osmania University in Hyderabad and graduated in 2001. He has an MBA from FMS Delhi and also an MBA from INSEAD in 2011. He completed the Chief AI Officer program from Cornell University, USA. He also completed an advanced program in technology and policy at the Harvard Kennedy School in 2023.

Career Kaushik began his career at Tata Consultancy Services as a design engineer before moving to Nestlé India, Citibank, building the sales and distribution channels and key account management, and HSBC in sales and business development roles.

In 2012, Kaushik joined Shell plc, working across Europe and Asia in fleet management, transport solutions, and marketing. Kaushik was a founding member of Shell’s Liquefied Natural Gas for transport team based in The Hague, Netherlands. He was involved in establishing supply chains, designing refueling infrastructure, and collaborating with industry partners. He also worked on e-mobility and B2B initiatives within Shell. Between 2017 and 2019, he served as General Manager for Shell Fleet Solutions in Singapore and Indonesia. He led pilot projects in Delhi and the National Capital Region developing battery-swap infrastructure.

Spiro In 2023, Kaushik was appointed CEO of Spiro, a company operating electric motorcycles and battery-swap infrastructure in Africa, including Rwanda, Benin, Togo, Nigeria, Uganda, Cameroon, Mali, DRC, Ghana and Kenya.

By 2025, Spiro had expanded its electric motorcycle and battery-swapping operations across six African markets, with pilot deployments launched in Tanzania and Cameroon. Spiro has deployed 125,000 bikes across 10 countries. Spiro was named among the five finalists for the 2025 Milken-Motsepe Prize in AI and Manufacturing. In 2026, Kaushik was featured in Forbes Africa's Kenya Special Edition.

Fundraising During Burman's tenure, Spiro raised a series of funding to expand across Africa. In 2023, the company secured up to US$63 million from Société Générale and GuarantCo. In May 2024, Spiro received US$50 million from Afreximbank. In October 2025, Spiro announced a US$100 million investment round led by the Fund for Export Development in Africa. In 2026, Spiro secured a further US$215 million in equity investment from institutional investors, including Impact Fund Denmark, followed by an additional US$55 million from NewTrails Capital, bringing the combined round to US$270 million.

Impact Burman played a key role in expanding electric mobility in Asia and Africa. At Gogoro, he oversaw the development of India’s first battery-swapping pilot projects and related infrastructure.