January 2025 proved to be a strong month for African startup funding, with 40 startups securing a total of $289 million through $100k+ deals (excluding exits), Africa: The Big Deal latest report revealed.
This marks a significant increase from January 2024, when only $85 million was raised, nearly 3.5 times more. It also ranks as the second-best January for African startup funding since at least 2019, surpassed only by January 2022, a peak period during the global funding surge.
Equity financing dominated the funding landscape, accounting for more than 90 percent of the total at $262 million—4.4 times more than in January 2024. This makes it the second-best January in terms of equity fundraising since 2019.
While the 40 deals recorded this month are fewer than those in 2022, 2023, and 2024, there was a notable increase in large deals.
Twenty-six of the transactions were valued at $1 million or more, surpassing January 2024’s count of 21 and making it the second-best January for $1 million+ deals since 2019.
The four largest deals, accounting for nearly 60 percent of all funding, came from one of Africa’s “Big Four” markets, with three of them involving expansion beyond their home countries:
PowerGen (Energy) raised over $50 million to scale distributed renewable energy solutions across Africa; LemFi (Fintech) secured $53 million to expand further into Asia and Europe; Naked (Insurtech) landed a $38 million Series B round to enhance automation and product expansion and Enko Education (EdTech) obtained $24 million to grow its network of African schools.
With such a strong start to 2025, African startups appear to be regaining momentum, signaling increased investor confidence in the continent’s innovation ecosystem.
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