The African tech sector has continued to witness exponential growth in the past five years. The tech startups in the region took center stage in 2021 when they reached an inflection point as companies raised over $4 billion, more than what they raised in 2019.
The fintech sector dominated last year’s total funding, accounting for 63% ($3 billion) of the funding that went to African startups. Amidst the global inflation, in the first half of 2022, African tech start-ups jointly raised $3.1 billion.
The “big four” in the African region, with countries such as Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, and Egypt still maintained dominance, as the African tech ecosystem is significantly shaped by activities in these countries. Since the year 2019, startups operating in these countries have raised 83 percent of all funding and signed 78 percent of all $1 million-plus deals, as they show no indications of slowing down.
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Top Four (4) H1 2022 Funding In Africa According to Countries
1.) Nigeria: Nigeria represents the vast majority of the funding raised in Western Africa since 2019. Tech startups in the country raised 32.8% of the funds raised.
2.) Egypt: With at least 562 tech startups in operation across the country as of September 2021, Egypt has been disclosed to have the fourth largest startup ecosystem on the African continent by the number of companies. It accounts for 19.8 percent of the active tech startups across Africa. Tech startups in the country raised 20.1% of the funds.
3.) Kenya: The startup ecosystem in the country has been described as a robust one with entrepreneurs building solutions for their communities that they want to scale across the globe. The country’s capital Nairobi is home to more than 200 startups. Tech startups in the country raised 14.4% of the funds.
4.) South Africa: Fintech is disclosed as a major driver of activity within the country’s startup space, with 30 percent of companies in the country active in that space. Tech startups in South Africa raised 12.7% of the funds raised.
Now let’s take a look at the sector in the African startup ecosystem that received the highest funding;
H1 2022 Funding Raised Based On Sector
It is nothing new that the Fintech Startups in the African region continues to receive the highest amount of funding. The sector took the largest chunk of funding, raising 28.8% ($845 million).
This was followed by the logistics and mobility sector. It was disclosed that this sector is gradually set to overtake the fintech sector in the Nigerian startup ecosystem. There is no disputing the fact that the logistics and mobility sector is doing exceptionally well in the African region as it raised 11.4% of the funds making it the second highest sector.
Coming in the third position is the health tech sector, as there is a booming increase of health-tech startups on the African continent. The number of startups active in the health-tech space on the continent grew to 56.5% in 2020. The sector raised 7.9% of funds.
Sitting in the fourth position is the E-Commerce sector. The value of early-stage funding for the e-commerce technology enterprises in Africa amounted to $26.7 million in 2021. The sector raised 7.0% of the funding followed by the Edtech sector occupying the fifth position. The sector raised 6.6% of funds, with over 200 Edtech startups spread across the African continent, using diverse models to bridge the quality of education in Africa.
Conclusion
H2 2022 is already looking good in the African region, as startups have already raised nearly $150 million. There have been predictions that startups in the region will likely be affected by rising inflation, Food prices, Fuel prices, and the likes. However, tech founders of these startups are hopeful that the H1 growth of 2022 will flow into the H2.