In 2025, Africa’s start-up ecosystem continues to tell a familiar story. The continent’s “Big Four” Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, and South Africa still continue to command the lion’s share of venture capital.

According to a recent report by Africa: The Big Deal, these four countries accounted for 82% of all start-up funding, a figure that has remained remarkably consistent since 2019, fluctuating between 80% and 86%.

This dominance is striking given that the Big Four represent only about 30% of Africa’s population and roughly 40% of its nominal GDP. Their share of funding in 2025 was identical for both equity and debt, each standing at 82%.

However, a different picture emerges when the focus shifts from total capital raised to the number of start-ups securing funding. While 64% of all ventures raising money in 2025 were based in the Big Four, their dominance becomes more pronounced at higher deal sizes. About 81% of start-ups raising $10 million or more were headquartered in these four countries.

This proportion dropped to 69% for those raising between $1 million and $10 million, and further to 56% for start-ups raising between $100,000 and $1 million. This suggests that while the Big Four continue to dominate large-ticket deals, entrepreneurial activity is more geographically dispersed at smaller funding levels.

Performance of The Big Four

Kenya

Kenya emerged as the top destination for start-up funding in 2025, nearly reaching the $1 billion mark, an achievement not seen in any single African market since 2022. The East African country accounted for almost one-third of all funding raised across the continent.

Overall funding in Kenya grew by 52% year-on-year. Debt financing made up 60% of the total ($582 million), while equity funding ($383 million) nearly doubled. Much of this growth was driven by large energy-focused ventures such as d.light, Sun King, M-Kopa, Burn, and PowerGen.

Despite this strong capital inflow, the number of ventures raising at least $100,000 fell by 23% year-on-year to 75, the weakest performance among the Big Four on this metric.

Egypt

Egypt followed in second place, raising $614 million, which represented 20% of the continent’s total. Funding in the country also grew by 51% year-on-year, split almost evenly between equity and debt.

The country ranked second in terms of debt funding, with $278 million, accounting for 24% of Africa’s total debt financing. A total of 61 start-ups raised at least $100,000 in Egypt in 2025.

South Africa

South Africa ranked third, with funding rising by 51% year-on-year to reach $600 million, or 19% of the continental total. Unlike Kenya and Egypt, South Africa’s funding was overwhelmingly equity-based, with over 90% ($545 million) coming from equity rounds.

This made it the largest equity market on the continent, accounting for 29% of Africa’s total equity funding. The number of ventures raising at least $100,000 surged to 83, a 63% year-on-year increase, moving the country to second place on this metric.

Nigeria

Nigeria traditionally one of Africa’s strongest start-up markets, underperformed in 2025. It was the only Big Four country to record a decline in total funding, which fell by 17% year-on-year to $343 million. Its share of total continental funding dropped from 19% in 2024 to just 11% in 2025, the lowest level recorded since tracking began in 2019.

Equity, which made up 83% of Nigeria’s total funding, declined by 22%. Despite this, Nigeria still led the continent in the number of ventures raising at least $100,000, with 86 start-ups, even though this figure represented a 14% year-on-year decrease.

Beyond The Big Four Market

Outside the dominant region, only two markets surpassed the $100 million mark in 2025. Senegalranked fifth with $157 million, largely driven by Wave’s $137 million debt round. Benin followed in sixth place with $100 million, almost entirely from Spiro’s single $100 million round.

Several other countries formed a strong middle tier, with funding between $10 million and $100 million. These included Morocco ($58 million) and Tunisia ($37 million) in North Africa; Ghana ($56 million), Togo ($31 million), Côte d’Ivoire ($28 million), and Mali ($18 million) in West Africa; and Rwanda ($25 million) and Uganda ($22 million) in East Africa.

An additional eight countries attracted between $1 million and $10 million, while six others recorded minimal deal activity. However, in 26 African countries, no deal above $100,000 could be identified, highlighting the persistent unevenness of the continent’s start-up ecosystem.

When ranked by the number of ventures raising at least $100,000, the landscape looked different. After the Big Four, Ghana, Morocco, Tunisia, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Uganda rounded out the top ten, showing that entrepreneurial momentum is more widely distributed than capital volumes might suggest.

Regional Trends

At a regional level, Eastern Africa led in total funding raised in 2025, capturing 34% of the continent’s total. This was followed by Western Africa (24%), Northern Africa (23%), Southern Africa (19%), and Central Africa (0.1%). This distribution closely mirrored 2024, though Western Africa slipped slightly due to Nigeria’s weaker performance.

Over a longer horizon, the regional balance has shifted significantly. In 2021, Western Africa dominated with 48% of total funding, far ahead of Southern Africa (23%), Northern Africa (14%), and Eastern Africa (14%). By 2025, Eastern Africa had emerged as the leading region in funding value.

However, in terms of the number of ventures raising at least $100,000, Western Africa remained in front in 2025, with 29%, followed by Eastern Africa (27%), Northern Africa (23%), Southern Africa (18%), and Central Africa (2%).

Outlook

While the Big Four continue to dominate Africa’s start-up funding landscape, especially in large deals, the broader ecosystem shows signs of diversification.

Smaller rounds and growing entrepreneurial activity in non-Big Four markets suggest that innovation is spreading more widely across the continent even if capital remains heavily concentrated at the top.