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Though the Top50 deals represent 83% of the funding raised, the majority of deals are in the $100k-$5m range

With $2.5bn raised collectively, the Top 50 deals ($10m & over) are responsible for 83% of the total amount raised by start-ups in Africa in 2021 so far. Of these Top 50 deals, 40 (80%) have been raised by start-ups headquartered in either Nigeria (18), South Africa (12) or Egypt (10); 21 (42%) have been raised by fintech start-ups; 46 (92%) by start-ups with a male CEO; and 40 (80%) by start-ups with all-male founding teams.

Though a lot of the headlines focus on these large deals, there is actually a very healthy pipeline of smaller deals with the potential to generate larger deals in the future: 2021 so far has seen more than 350 deals between $100k and $1m. And the start-ups behind these smaller deals are less concentrated in Nigeria, South Africa & Egypt (52% vs 80% of the Top 50); less focused on fintech (26% vs 42%); twice as likely to be led by a woman CEO (17% vs 8%); and have more diverse founding teams (30% vs 20%).

Thanks for being with us for yet another week. It’s been over six months since we started, and can’t thank you enough for your support. We love to see examples of how you use our stats and graphs so don’t hesitate to share those with us. Details about all 576 deals we analysed for this publication can be found in our database, along with deals from 2019 and 2020 totalling over $6b.