‘African Startups Attract $15bn Total Investment Since 2019’

Startups in Africa have engaged in $15 billion worth of investment transactions since 2019, a report by Africa-The Big Deal, has disclosed.

This is even as the report has averred that Nigeria receives $4.4 billion, representing 30 per cent of the $15 billion total investments between 2019 and 2023.

The report revealed that Nigeria led the Big Four in terms of the African startup ecosystem, comprising Kenya, raising $2.9 billion, South Africa, raising $2.4 billion and Egypt raising $2.3 billion, in the period under review. The four countries attracted 84 per cent of all the start-up funding in Africa since 2019, the report by The Big Deal revealed.

“The most striking is obviously the relative weight of the Big Four, which have attracted 84 per cent of all the start-up funding in Africa since 2019, with Nigeria alone representing 30 per cent of the total. Kenya comes second, South Africa third, and Egypt a close fourth,” it explained.

It was also mentioned that of all the start-ups that raised $1 million or more during that time, more than three quarters (or 25 per cent in the case of Nigeria) were based in the Big Four.
In terms of start-ups worth $1 million or more, South Africa came in marginally ahead of Kenya. Senegal and Ghana, while claiming nearly six times less assistance than Egypt since 2019, emerged the two closest runner-ups to the Big Four.

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“While they might be neck and neck in absolute terms, Ghana’s position feels stronger than Senegal’s as a potential Big Five contender in the long run, with nearly 3 times as many start-ups having raised $1m+, including 13 that have crossed the $10m mark in funding over the period, versus ‘only’ four in Senegal where 76 per cent of all the start-up funding since 2019 has gone to Wave alone,” it added.

The Big Deal said most of the other markets where startups have raised over $100 million since 2019, except the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are located in East (Tanzania, Uganda), and North Africa (Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco).

In the latter, there are, however, strong discrepancies between the three markets: in Algeria only a couple of startups have disclosed funding over $1m in the period, with Yassir alone claiming 98% of the total amount.

“Tunisia is home to a dozen ventures that raised $1m+ but more than two-thirds of the capital has gone to InstaDeep. Morocco, however, shows a much more balanced picture with close to 40 ventures having raised $1m or more since 2019,” the report stated.

The report noted that, beyond those, 12 countries have attracted between $10 million and $100 million in the past five years, and an additional 11 have seen some level of activity, sometimes very limited. It, however, indicated that 19 markets in Africa have not registered any deal at all.