2022 sets yet another record...💰

With one month to go until the end of the year, funding raised in 2022 has already surpassed the record established in 2021

Though the news of the past few months have mostly been focusing on the global downturn in terms of start-ups funding - with Africa also feeling the pinch since Q3 - it wouldn’t be fair to forget that 2022 has been a record-breaking year for the ecosystem. Start-ups on the continent have crossed the 1⃣ billion dollar mark in terms of funding raised earlier than ever before. And they didn’t stop there. They raised their first 2⃣ billion dollars faster than they ever had. The same can actually be said about how quickly they were to reach the 3⃣ billion and the 4⃣ billion dollar milestones.

So it shouldn’t really come as a surprise that start-ups in Africa have now raised more funding in 2022 than in 2021. Which obviously means that they have raised more funding this year than they had ever raised in a calendar year before. The second half of 2022 has been much less dynamic than the first ($282m raised monthly on average in H2 so far, roughly half of the H1 average ($532m)), yet the incredible performance in Q1 and Q2 was enough to carry the full year. The next four weeks (three if we factor in the fact that the last week of the year is usually very quiet) are just going to contribute towards this new record. And unless another region had a spectacular turnaround in Q4 - and we’ve not heard any indication of that, quite the opposite - Africa will be the only continent to have recorded positive YoY growth in terms of start-up funding in 2022 🚀

Can you believe it is the end of the year already? Doesn’t January feel like yesterday? It definitely flew by for us! Now if you're starting to feel a bit nervous because you don’t know what to get your favourite entrepreneur or VC for Christmas, Worry no more! Get them a subscription to the Africa: The Big Deal database. They will love it for sure! Plus it’s really the gift that keeps on giving ;) Here’s a little discount to make sure Santa choses right (and ditches that itchy fire hazardous electric blanket…)