Startups across Africa raised a total of $217 million in February 2024, representing a 182% increase when compared with January.
This is according to a report by ‘Africa: The Big Deal’, which monitors deals announced by startups on the continent. In January, the firm said African startups raised $77 million.
However, for February, the report factored in Uber’s $100 million reported investment in Nigeria’s mobility fintech, Moove, which has yet to be concluded. The company behind the report said they were able to confirm directly with one of the investors that the $100 million Series B is indeed happening.
The report indicated that 38 startups raised at least $100k last month in equity, debt, or grants, the same number as in January. However, the total amount they announced is nearly 3 times higher, at $217 million ($156 million in equity and $59 million in debt).
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What the report is saying
Highlighting the capital raise activities by African startups since the beginning of this year to date, the research platform said:
- “As you may remember, January was a pretty quiet month with only $77 million worth of deals announced on the continent.
- The good news is that things have picked up in February: 38 startups raised at least $100k last month (in equity, debt, or grants), the same number as in January.
- “The largest contributor by far (51% of the total) was Nigerian transport tech Moove who first announced $10m of debt for its India expansion before rumors of an upcoming new round surfaced last week.
- “We have been able to confirm directly with one of the investors that the $100 million Series B is indeed happening. There were also 3 announced exits last month: Carbon bought Vella Finance, Auto24 acquired Kupatana and FairMoney might buy Umba.
- “All in all, funding levels in February 2024 were quite comparable to 2020 and 2021.”
2024 YTD funding
The report added that year-to-date, startups on the continent have raised just short of $300 million. A breakdown of this shows that 80 startups have raised at least $100k, 38 of which have raised at least $1 million.
The Big Four have claimed 86% of all the funding, with Nigeria (42%, $123 million including $110m from Moove alone) and Kenya (27%, $81 million) in the lead, and Egypt (10%, $28 million) and South Africa (7%, 22 million) quite far behind.
Beyond those, only Uganda has registered more than $10 million in funding this year so far, according to the report.
From a sector point of view, Logistics & Transport represented nearly half of all the funding, thanks to Moove, followed by Healthcare, Fintech, and Energy. In terms of the number of individual startups raising, however, Fintech came first at 18 out of 80, representing 23%.
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