🇿🇦 South Africa: the (quiet) equity leader

For the third year in a row, South Africa is topping the charts in terms of start-up equity funding on the continent

I’ve been in Cape Town for a week now, so obviously I couldn’t resist opening our database to look at the country’s numbers more closely. I was a bit surprised at first by what I saw, and then I realised why…

As one of the so-called Big Four, South Africa has consistently been one of the top four markets in terms of start-up funding raised on the continent since we started tracking the numbers back in 2019. From $80m in 2019 (all types of funding included, except exits), it went up to $869m in 2021 at the top of the funding heatwave, and has been hovering around the $400m/year mark since then. As of the end of October, start-ups in South Africa have raised $484m in 2025 so far. In terms of ranking, the country peaked at #2 in 2021, but has otherwise been holding either the #3 or #4 spot. Yes, that’s right, it somehow never held the top spot. And this is the part that felt a bit off, considering how mature the ecosystem feels on the ground, and the number of announcements coming out of the market…

And that’s for one specific reason: similarly to Nigeria, the vast majority of funding raised/announced in South Africa is equity funding: 90% and 88% of the total raised since 2019, respectively. In Egypt, the proportion falls to 76%, and to 55% in Kenya. This has been particularly true since the beginning of 2024, when the share of equity in the total raised (exc. exits) has reached 92% in South Africa and 86% in Nigeria, versus 2/3 in Egypt, and 1/4 in Kenya. As a result, if we compare markets based not on total funding raised, but on total equity funding raised, the story looks very different:

As a matter of fact, South Africa has been the leading market in Africa in terms of equity funding since 2023. As of the end of October, start-ups in South Africa had raised 30% of all the equity funding raised on the continent in 2025 (vs. only 2% of the debt). With $449m raised so far, not only has the ecosystem raised more than in 2023 and 2024, but it might also be on track to raise more than in 2022 ($484m). $449m is also the equivalent of the amount of equity funding raised in Nigeria+Kenya or Egypt+Kenya. Some of the largest venture rounds this year have involved hearX, Stitch, Naked, wetility, Enko Education, Ctrack, and Paymenow, all with deals over $20m each.

South Africa is also the market where we have tracked the most exits since 2019 with 56 in total, versus 48 in Egypt, 34 in Nigeria, and 24 in Kenya. Some of the latest ones include the acquisition of ikhokha by Nedbank for ~$93m (R1.65b) in an all cash deal last August, and Lesaka inking a ~$61m agreement to acquire Bank Zero in July (R1.1b).

Finally, I was curious to see what sectors South Africa had a strong foothold in, and therefore looked at its ranking by sector in terms of funding raised since 2019. In this instance, whether we consider equity only or all funding (exc. exits), the results are exactly the same. South Africa comes out on top when it comes to Healthcare; Telecom, Media & Entertainment (by quite a margin for both sectors); but also Deeptech. It comes second when it comes to fintech ($1.9b raised since 2019, vs. $2.8b in Nigeria). In the other two largest sectors in terms of funding on the continent - Energy and Logistics & Transportation - South Africa ranks at #3 and #4 respectively.

As usual, you can find the details about all these deals in our database for less than R300 a month (~$17) if you use this discount code. And of course, if you’re attending Africa Tech Festival, feel free to join the session I’m moderating on Unlocking Capital for Africa’s Early-Stage Founders at noon on the AfricaIgnite main stage. Have a good week everyone! Max

All key growth indicators are green 💚

After a strong October, start-up funding continues on its upward trajectory

Start-ups in Africa have raised over $442m in funding in October (exc. exits), the second-best month this year, behind July. 76% of the total ($334m) was raised as equity, making it the best performing month in terms of equity funding in 2025 so far. The two largest deals came from Spiro who raised $100m, the largest-ever investment in an e-mobility start-up on the continent, and Moniepoint who topped up their latest mega-round with an extra $90m. Tagaddod, Ctrack, and Mawingu all also raised $20m or more in equity. The rest is almost exclusively debt - in line with the overall trend -, including two large bond issuances: $71m by MNT-Halan and ~$23m by valU. Overall, 53 ventures raised at least $100k last month, which is above average if we compare with the few months.

The good news is that - as we covered in our previous post - it also means that things are looking up for the ecosystem, with all key growth indicators green and double-digit growth (almost) across the board. Indeed, in 2025 so far start-ups in Africa have already raised $2.65 billion in total, which represents +56% growth if we compare to the same period last year. It is also higher than the comparable period in 2023. If we focus exclusively on equity, we see growth once again: +31% YoY, and virtually the same amount as Jan-Oct 2023. Same story when it comes to the number of ventures who have raised at least $1m since the beginning of the year (179, +13% YoY), which is both higher than the same period in 2024 (159) and in 2023 (178). Hopefully the end of 2025 can match the strong closing of 2024 when start-ups had raised $540m in November-December.

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If we look at the past 12 months (Nov 24 - Oct 25), the story is equally encouraging: $3.2 billion were raised over that period (+50% YoY), including $1.9 billion in equity (+38% YoY); 207 ventures (+8% YoY) raised at least $1m over the period. While the performance over the next couple of months will determine how well the ecosystem does in 2025 overall, and whether the upward trend gets confirmed, there is definitely room for optimism…

I (Max) am actually in Cape Town for a few days for a long-overdue visit. I’ll be at the Global DPI Summit this week, and will also catch the beginning of Africacom the Africa Tech Festival (Maxime told me last week I was showing my age when I used the old name) the following week. I hope I get to catch up with some of you here! The weather is absolutely gorgeous in the Mother City, but if it’s raining where you are, remember that you always have our deals database to keep you company ;) Ciao. Max

What's so special about 2025? 🔢​ - cont'd

After looking at sectors and debt last week, we now focus on geography and quite an encouraging upward trend...

Last week we explored two of the trends that have characterised 2025 so far: 1️⃣ fintech and energy being neck-and-neck, at least if we take into account all types of funding (exc. exits), and 2️⃣​ the growing share of debt, in part driven by energy ventures. For more, check out the full post:

What's so special about 2025? 🔢​

This week, we’ll look at two other trends worth keeping in mind for anyone following what’s happening in the start-ups ecosystem in Africa:

3️⃣​ 📈​ Things are looking up 📈​

I did resist including this trend last week, because in my opinion it really outshines the other three. When we closed 2024, it was hard to ignore a certain disappointment from many as the ecosystem registered its second consecutive year of YoY decline in funding. But 2025 will be different: for the first time since 2022, start-up funding is going to grow YoY. Indeed, Q3 closed at $2.21 billion, vs. $2.3 billion in the whole of 2024. And at the time of writing (October 26), start-ups in Africa have roughly raised an extra $450 million in October - courtesy of Spiro’s $100m raise and Moniepoint’s $90m Series C top-up, but not only. So $2.21b + $450m = $2.66b >> $2.3b. QED.

Now the question really is whether the final 2025 tally can also top 2023 numbers i.e. $2.98 billion. Start-ups would need to raise at least $320m in November and December. Is that realistic? I would say Yes for at least 4 reasons: (1) so far in 2025, they’ve raised on average $265m a month; (2) since 2022, Nov+Dec numbers combined have always been above $350m as start-ups and investors rush to close and announce rounds before the year ends; (3) even if Nov+Dec were to represent ‘only’ 15% of the Jan-Oct funding like it did in 2022 and 2023 (in 2024, it was 32%), that would still mean $400m; and (4) we’re still hoping moove might close its latest equity round this year, rumoured at $300m, on top of which they could be raising as much as $1.2b in debt.

Of course, the naysayers might look back at the second trend and argue the good performance is attributable only to debt. Well, as of today, start-ups in Africa have raised at least $1.45b in equity specifically, which is only $100m short of the $1.55b raised in 2024, and not too far from the $1.75b of 2023. By the time we reach the end of 2025, there might not be much room to naysay anymore…

I would also like to insist that this is a trend, and not just due to a handful of large deals inflating the numbers. In fact, if instead of looking at calendar years, we focus on four-quarterly rolling periods (see graph), we can clearly see that numbers have now been on an upward trend for about a year and a half, after two years of decline.

4️⃣​ 🔎​ Start-up funding “in Africa” ​​🔎

As we talk about how much start-ups “in Africa” are raising, it is important to acknowledge that this funding is far from equally distributed. The dynamics have certainly evolved, yet the headline remains the same: the Big Four continue to attract the vast majority of the funding on the continent. While we don’t track the data at a city level, we could even pretty confidently say that at least three quarters of the funding go to just five cities: Cairo, Cape Town, Jo’burg, Lagos, and Nairobi.

This hyper concentration of funding is not new per se (neither is it a specifically African reality: over 2/3 of funding in the US in 2024 went to California-HQ’ed start-ups). The of the Big Four has hovered between 83% and 86% since 2019 (except in 2022 went it went ‘down’ to 80%). In 2025 so far, it is at 83%. In contrast, we have not recorded any significant funding activity since 2019 in 20 markets.

What has changed are the dynamics between the Big Four. I remember one of my first posts back in 2021 being about Nigerian fintech ‘eating the world’. This is not true anymore today. Funding is much more balanced between the four key markets, and as a result, between the four main regions (unfortunately Central Africa is barely represented in the numbers in 2025). In terms of total funding raised (exc. exits), Kenya is in the lead, followed by South Africa, Egypt and Nigeria. If we look specifically at equity - which is probably more relevant in this case - then South Africa leads, followed by Egypt, Nigeria and finally Kenya. And if anything, the share of the Big Four in equity funding raised is even higher than for the overall funding, at 86% in 2025 so far…

Next week, we’ll be bringing you the full October numbers, though we’ve teased them quite a bit already in this post. If you want to make you receive the monthly update of the database as soon as it’s ready, make sure to subscribe - with your reader discount - here. Cheers from Chengdu (don’t ask 🐼)! Max

What's so special about 2025? 🔢​

Taking stock of key trends in terms of start-up fundraising in Africa as we enter the last quarter of 2025

Initially, I was going to write about Q3 only… But in the end, I thought it was much more relevant to focus on 2025 YTD (Jan-Sep), how it compares to previous years, and what it might mean for the future. And I’d say there are four key trends that stand out from looking at the data:

1️⃣​ ​💵 No, it’s not just about fintech… 💵

OK, Yes, it is still a lot about fintech: in 2025 so far, 33% of the funding raised has gone to fintech start-ups (exc. exits). We’re talking $725 million out of $2.2 billion. More specifically, fintechs have attracted 33% of the equity funding and 29% of the debt funding. This is on the low side, relatively speaking: the average over the 2019-2024 period is around 45%; only in 2020 did the share of fintech fall as low as 33% (in 2021, it had reached 56%). Out of the 11 start-ups that raised more than $50m this year so far, 5 are fintech: Wave raised $137m in debt, Bokra $59m also in debt, Stitch and LemFi both closed their Series B ($55m and $53m respectively), and Tasaheel (MNT-Halan) issued a $50m corporate bond.

But in that same Top 11, you also find four ventures in the energy space, including the two largest raisers this year so far (d.light and Sun King who respectively secured $300m and $156m in debt), Burn who raised $90m in total - also in debt -, and PowerGen who secured $55m in equity. All in all, 33% of the funding raised also went to energy start-ups. It is the first time since we’ve started tracking the numbers in 2019 that another sector is so close to overtaking fintech. That said, this is mostly because energy start-ups have raised a lot of debt in 2025: $585m so far, almost as much as all sectors combined in the whole of 2024. Indeed, 63% of debt funding has gone to energy ventures (vs. 29% for fintech) in 2025YTD. Energy tech’s share of equity funding in comparison is much lower (11%), and very far from fintech (33%)

Owning to the good performance of the energy sector in terms of fundraising - but not only - the share of funding going to start-ups with a ‘Climate Tech’ focus is trending at its highest in 2025 so far, with 39% of the funding. This is overall aligned with the trend we had first identified in 2023. All in all, over $5b have been invested in Climate Tech start-ups on the continent since 2019, including $2.7b in the past three years alone.

2️⃣​ 💸 It is more and more about debt… 💸

Another trend we have first highlighted back in 2023 and keep getting stronger is the growing share of debt in the total funding raised and announced. In 2025 so far, $935m worth of debt have been raised on the continent. In absolute numbers, this is more than the debt raised in the whole of 2024 or 2022, and the ecosystem could well be on track to top the record amount of debt raised in a calendar year: $1.1b in 2023.

In terms of share of funding raised, debt represents 42% of the total in 2025 so far. If the trend continues in the remaining three months of the year, it would be the highest share we ever recorded since we started tracking the numbers in 2019. We’ve discussed in the past the why behind this growing proportion and as a reminder, here are a few considerations to keep in mind: (1) as the ecosystem keeps maturing the debt offering grows, while (2) start-ups turn to debt as their needs evolve, especially if their revenue becomes more stable and predictable; (3) some sectors also get hungrier in debt with time - see below -; as funding activity slowed down after the heatwave, (4) start-ups become more likely to communicate about the debt they raised, (5) and media to report about it; etc.

As we were just discussing in the previous section, the energy sector has been a key driver of debt fundraising on the continent since 2019: of the $3.9 billion of debt we’ve tracked, $1.9 billion (49%) were raised by energy start-ups alone. The share has never been as high as it’s been in 2025 so far (63%) though it always hovered around 50%, except in 2022 (26%) when more fintech debt was raised. In comparison, since 2019, 32% of debt has gone to fintech, and an extra 11% to logistics & transportation ventures.

Our commitment to you is not to overload you with information, so we’ll let you absorb this, and we’ll be back early next week with the second half of this analysis. If we’ve left you wanting more, check out our previous in-depth analysis of Africa’s Top 100 most funded start-ups. Wait, you’ve read that one already? Then you’re a pro and can maybe play directly with the underlying data in our deals database, and see if you can identify trends we haven’t? We’re very curious to hear what you’ll come up with… In the meanwhile, Bonne journée! Max

$2.2 billion and counting: September update 🧗‍♂️

58 start-ups raised $140m+ last month; the total raised in 2025 to date now exceeds $2.2 billion

Before we start. we wanted to make sure you hadn’t missed our three-part feature on the continent’s most-funded start-ups, which has already attracted 25,000+ unique views on Substack alone. Of course, if you enjoyed it, don’t hesitate to pass it around ☺️…

Inside Africa's ​Top💯​ Most Funded Start-Ups

It’s not just about Fintech... - Top💯​ cont'd

Who is behind Africa's ​Top💯​ Most Funded Start-Ups?

The latest update of our monthly start-up deals database gave us quite a bit of work, as September saw a total of 58 companies raise $140 million on the continent (exc. exits). From an amount point of view, this is below average, yet equivalent to what had been raised in Sept 2024 ($146m), and above the Sept 2023 tally ($124m). What is notable though, is the number of ventures who raised at least $100k last month, the second-best in a year (just behind July).

Of the $140m raised, $105m (75%) were equity, and the rest mostly debt ($32m) and some grant funding ($3m, including 16 match-funding grants from DEG Impulse as part of their new develoPPP Ventures cohort in East Africa - see here and here). The five largest transactions of the month were all equity: Kredete (fintech, Nigeria) announced its $22m Series A; Pura Beverage closed their $15m Series B (not technically a start-up, though they’ve decided to go the VC route for their financing), Contactable (identity, South Africa) bagged $13.5m, Intella (AI, Egypt) closed a $12.5m Series A; and The Invigilator (education, South Africa) secured $11m.

There were also 5 exits announced in September, including 3 in South Africa where a consortium led by Twofold Capital acquired fintech TaxTim, edtech Rekindle acquired EpiTek, and fintech Street Wallet acquired Digitip. In North Africa, logistics start-up Cathedis was acquired by super app start-up Ora Technologies in Morocco, and healthtech Duaya acquired EXMGO in Egypt.

If we zoom back and look at quarterly numbers, start-ups in Africa have raised $785m in Q3, which is lower than Q2 ($963m) but significantly higher than Q1 ($461m). It is however a very strong Q3, comparing very favourably to the same quarter in 2024 ($649m), 2023 ($496m), but also 2022 ($612m). Start-ups in Africa have now raised $2.2b in 2025 to date (‘YTD’, exc. exits), which is only about $40m from the total raised in the whole of 2024…

… but we’ll dive deeper into these numbers soon as we focus on Q3 and 2025 YTD. As usual, and like hundreds of investors and entrepreneurs, you can find all the underlying data in our deals database, updated monthly: over $21 billion in deals by the 4,000+ start-ups who have raised $100k or more since 2019. Yes, that’s a lot, it keeps growing, and we’re here for it! Bonne semaine. Max