In a resounding display of resilience and growth, African startups have made a powerful statement in the first half (H1) of 2025.
Defying global economic headwinds and a cautious funding environment, the continent’s innovation ecosystem recorded its strongest performance in high-value deals and exits since 2022.
Recall that startups across the continent recorded a remarkable resurgence in fundraising in H1 of 2025, with total funding reaching $1.35 billion, a 78% increase compared to $800 million raised during the same period in 2024.
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A report by Africa: The Big Deal, revealed that H1 2025 saw the largest number of $10m deals and exits since 2022, signaling renewed investor confidence and a maturing startup landscape driven by bold ideas and scalable solutions tailored for Africa and beyond.
A deeper look into the funding landscape reveals more nuanced trends around deal sizes, investor activity, and exit momentum. Between January and June 2025, 238 startups across the continent secured funding of at least $100,000. This figure is consistent with trends observed since mid-2023, although it falls slightly short of the numbers recorded in H1 and H2 2024. Of these, 108 startups raised over $1 million again, in line with recent patterns but marginally above average.
Notably, there has been a significant uptick in larger funding rounds. A remarkable 39 startups raised $10 million or more during the period, marking a return to levels not seen since the peak of investor enthusiasm in mid-2022. This is well above the average of 26 large deals per half-year recorded over the past five periods.
While most of these sizeable deals occurred in Africa’s traditional “Big Four” startup ecosystems—Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, and Egypt, there was also notable activity in emerging markets. These include Côte d’Ivoire (Djamo), Ghana (Zeepay), Senegal (Wave, Kera Health), Togo (Gozem), and Uganda (Furaha), signaling a broader geographic spread of investor interest.
Exit activity also saw a surprising surge. There were 21 reported exits in H1 2025—almost matching the total number of exits recorded across all of 2023 (20) and 2024 (22). June alone saw six exit announcements, a level of activity not witnessed since 2022. However, detailed data on these exits remains limited, making it difficult to assess deal volumes or valuations.
On the investor front, over 330 unique investors participated in at least one $100k+ deal in Africa during H1 2025. This figure marks a slight increase from H1 2024 but remains below H1 2023 levels (400+) and far behind the 675+ recorded in H1 2022. The most active investors so far include DEG (the German Development Finance Institution, part of the KfW group), largely through BMZ’s develoPPP grant programme, and Digital Africa, a subsidiary of French DFI Proparco.
Other consistently active investors in the top ten include Launch Africa, Renew Capital, an Africa-focused venture capital firm that invests in early-stage tech-enabled startups, British International Investment (BII), and Partech Africa. A new entrant to the list is Investing in Innovation (i3), a pan-African initiative that support the commercialization and impact of leading startups with grants, introductions to major healthcare organizations and support to close partnerships.
Overall, the first half of 2025 has seen a healthy mix of stability and momentum in Africa’s startup funding scene, with renewed interest in larger deals and exits pointing to a maturing investment landscape.
antalya nakliye