Amidst the economic downturn in Nigeria, Nigerian Fintech companies raised a venture capital funding of $1.2 billion in 2022, followed by Kenyan fintech who raised $1.1 billion and Egypt with $820 million, LEADERSHIP learnt.
In Lagos alone, about 107 technology Start-ups raised funding to the tune of $750 million in 2022, and between 20,000 and 50,000 people are employed by different Start-ups across the innovation sector.
Among the Fintech companies in Nigeria, who received huge funding in 2022 are Flutterwave, who raised a $250 million Series D round, the biggest funding announcement in 2022 and Interswitch, one of Africa’s largest fintech companies, securing a $110 million deal in a joint venture deal with LeapFrog Investments and Tana Africa Capital to increase its presence across Africa with its digital payment services.
Moove, the Nigerian mobility fintech and Uber’s largest vehicle supply partner in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, also raised the sum of $105 million in new Series A2 financing to scale across its present markets and move into new markets outside Africa; Nigerian fintech startup TeamApt also raised $50 million in a “pre-Series C round”.
Vendease, a Y Combinator-backed digital platform allowing African restaurants to buy supplies, access financial services, and power their business operations, secured a Series A equity round of $20 million and in June, 2022, Healthtracka, which now delivers more than 1,000 tests a month in ten Nigerian cities, raised $1.5 million, among others.
Though, the venture capital funding of $1.2 billion was impressive, considering the global economic downturn that led to the decline in venture funding in nearly every countries, it is a 21 per cent year-on-year (YoY) decline compared to the over $1.5 billion raised in 2021.
Data from Africa: The Big Deal, revealed that, among the big four countries in Africa that have raised significant capital funding, only Nigeria and South Africa recorded a decline in funding in 2022, while adding that, South African startups only raised $500 million by the end of November 2022, which is half of the funding it had raised by that time in 2021.
This decline is attributed mainly to the H2 slump in funding that hit nearly every tech ecosystem on the continent even as the CB Insights State of Venture Q3’22 Report, revealed that, venture funding in Africa surprisingly dropped by 54 per cent in Q3 2022.
