Cikü, Anu, Belinda... and the 97 male CEOs
Out of the 100 most-funded start-ups in Africa since 2019, only three currently have a female CEO
[Updated on 23/9 at 7.40am EDT to include Cikü Mugambi of Kobo360]
27 start-ups in Africa have raised more than $100m+ in equity, debt or grant funding since 2019. MTN-Halan is leading the pack by a comfortable margin with close to $1 billion raised in the past 5.5 years, followed by Sun King and OPay. If you push the cursor down to $50m+ of funding raised, you find a total of 56 ventures. To make it into the Top 100, a venture would need to have raised more than $32m over the period.
What is much harder to find in this select group though, is a start-up with a female CEO. As a matter of fact, all Top 10 ventures in terms of total funding raised since 2019 are male-led. Actually, all ventures that have raised $100m+ on the continent since 2019 currently have a male CEO. There’s a caveat though: Gro Intelligence. Back in January 2021, the deeptech - co-founded and then-headed by Sara Menker - made a big splash when it raised a $85m Series B round, which still remains by far the largest round ever raised but a female-led start-up on the continent. However, Menker was replaced by James Cariello earlier this year, as Gro Intelligence is now unfortunately rumoured to be closing down.
To find the only three ventures that currently have a female CEO, we need to look a little further down in the $50m+ club:
At #33, Nigerian logistics start-up Kobo360 is led by Cikü Mugambi who had joined as Chief of Staff and Investors Relations in 2021, before replacing co-founder and CEO Obi Ozor in August 2023. [We had initially missed Cikü from this list as Kobo360 has not publicly raised funding since she took over as CEO. We apologise for this oversight and thank the people who rightfully pointed this out to us]
At #40, Nigerian logistics start-up sabi (another one!) was co-founded in 2021 by Anu Adasolum - previously of Rensource - who also acts as its CEO. In May 2023 sabi raised a $38 million Series B, with a valuation rumoured to be over $300m.
Close behind at #44 is Cape Bio Pharms led by CEO Belinda Shaw, a spin-off company of the University of Cape Town set up to help commercialise the innovations of its biopharming lab. The venture secured a substantial $50m+ grant back in 2020, with no public record of additional fundraising since.
There are no other female-led ventures in the Top 100. One deserves a mention though: logistics start-ups (again!) Lori systems who was headed by Uche Ogboi from mid 2021 to early 2023, after she was promoted from COO to CEO, replacing the organisation’s founder and then-CEO Josh Sandler. In May 2023 she was replaced as cEO by co-founder Jean-Claude Homawoo.
Not the most uplifting data this week, but as is often said: measuring the size of the gap - or gaps, rather - is one of the necessary steps to eventually manage to move the needle and see change happen. As women-led ventures continue to grow - and investors commit to supporting them -, we can hope this graph will start looking better. As you might have noticed from the unusual posting time, both Maxime and I are in NYC this week: Maxime for Climate Week and myself for UNGA etc. Holler if you’re around (though our respective agendas are quite mad…). Have a good week, Max