African Startups Raised $3.5 Billion in Six Months

Investors continue to dump billions on African startups in the first half of 2022 as $3.5 billion was invested across a series of startups on the continent despite rising global uncertainties.

According to the report published by African Venture Capital Activities (AVCA), this represents an increase of $2 billion when compared with what was invested in the same period of 2021.

A critical analysis of the report showed Financial Technology (Fintech) companies raised more funds than any other niche.

Nigeria had the highest number of closed deals during the period under review. Nigerian startups closed a total of 101 deals within the first six months of 2022. However, in monetary terms, startups in Egypt raised the highest amount of $352 million in 63 funding deals.

Kenya startups raked in $330 million from 54 funding deals while Nigerian startups raised $284 million in 101 funding deals.

Other countries with significant amounts of funds raised include Seychelles with $164 million, Ghana with $133 million in 21 deals, South Africa with $131 million in 50 deals, and Morocco with $108 million in 11 deals. 

A closer look at the result shows that the financial sector takes the lion’s share in the ecosystem. The fintech sector recorded 32 percent of the entire deals and 44 per cent of the total monetary value. This was followed by the Consumer Services and the Industrial Sectors which emerged second and third respectively. 

A further breakdown shows that startups in the financial sector raised $1.54 billion while information technology raised $448 million. 

Other sectors with significant funding include Industrial Services with $430 billion, Energy and Utility raised $360 million, Consumer Services raised $340 million, Communication Services with $173 million, Health Care Services raised $97 million, Materials with $97 million while Real Estate raised $6 million. 

Investors King understands that the African startup ecosystem has been on an astronomical rise since last year. 

It will be recalled that in 2021, African startups raised over $4 billion across 355 funding deals. This is almost three times what was raised in 2020 and 2019. The ecosystem raised $1.7 billion and $1.3 billion in 2020 and 2019 respectively.