Africa: funds raised by start-ups in the first quarter of 2022 reach 1.8 billion USD

Funding raised by African start-ups reached US$1.8 billion in the first quarter of 2022, 2.5 times the amount raised over the same period in 2021, according to a report released by thebigdeal.substack platform. com.

For the platform, it’s probably only a matter of days before the USD 2 billion mark is reached.

According to the source, in the first seven weeks of 2022, i.e. as of February 18, African start-ups have already accumulated more than 1 billion USD in funds raised, thanks to more than 130 transactions.

According to the report, three mega-deals of 100 million USD and more have already been disclosed during this first quarter of 2022, including the raising of 100 million USD from the Tunisian start-up InstaDeep, at the end of January, that of 250 million USD from Nigerian fintech Flutterwave in late February and $105m from mobility fintech Moove Africa in mid-March.

Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa and Egypt still attract the vast majority of financing with USD 1.5 billion in funds raised, or 83% of total financing raised on the continent.

Nigeria leads with USD 600 million in the first quarter of 2022, followed by Kenya (USD 482 million), South Africa (USD 228 million) and Egypt (USD 202 million).

It should be noted that compared to the first quarter of 2021, Egypt is the best of the “Big Four” because having multiplied by 4.9 the total funds raised at the end of March 2022. It is followed by Kenya and Nigeria which recorded a growth in total funds raised, year-on-year.

Only South Africa recorded a decrease in total funds raised at the end of March 2022 compared to the end of March 2021.

Looking to December 2022, i.e. at the end of the annual exercise, thebigdeal.substack.com envisages approximately 7.3 billion USD in funds raised by all the start-ups on the continent, provided that the fundraising started in beginning of the year continues at the same pace throughout the year.

Remember that at the start of 2022, specialists had already announced that African start-ups were increasingly attracting international investors, following an already prosperous year in 2021. Fintech had stood out, but the other sectors were not at all left out for funds looking for nuggets, these companies with explosive growth.

Olivier KAFORO