Dipping more than just a toe
While the US had the largest number of investors active in Africa in 2021, the most active investors were those based on the continent
Over 800 investors were involved in at least one $100k+ deal in Africa in 2021. After focusing on the most active investors signing large numbers of deals two weeks ago, we thought we’d look this week at where all those 800+ investors were based. At a regional level, North America leads the way with 290 investors (36% of the total) involved in at least one deal in Africa in 2021, followed by Africa (222, 28%), and Europe (176, 22%). However, the vast majority of investors (70%) was only involved in one deal on the continent in 2021. If we remove them - therefore focusing on investors likely to be looking at investments in Africa more intentionally -, the picture is quite different: indeed, Africa leads the way in terms of # of investors involved in more than one deal on the continent (100), followed by North America (69) and Europe (45); 41% of the investors who signed a deal in Africa in 2021 were based on the continent. This is due to the fact that 45% of African investors who signed deals in Africa signed more than one, versus only 1 in 4 for their North American and European counterparts. At a country level now, four countries boast more than 50 active investors in Africa in 2021: the US (280), way ahead of Nigeria and South Africa (61 each), and the UK (59). If we only look again at investors involved in more than one deal, the gap between the US and its runner-ups is much less pronounced. Zooming in on African investors, unsurprisingly in 82% of the cases they were located in one the ‘Big Four’ (NG, ZA, EG, KE). Now, How are things looking in 2022 so far? As of mid-March, nearly 400 investors have done at least one deal on the continent, 91 of which have done two or more already. We’re not seeing significant differences in terms of location compared to 2021, but it’s still very early to tell of course…
Thanks to all of you for reading this again this week, or maybe for the first time actually. I have been writing these posts every week for almost a year now (with a couple of small breaks), and I still get excited every single week when the time comes to dive into the data. Ideas and feedback are always welcome! Max