🗺 2022 Map series 🗺 Eastern Africa 🗺

Kenya leads the pack; outdistances it rather

This post is part of our special Thursday series focusing on start-up funding in Africa’s five regions in 2022. We published our analysis on Western Africa last week, and you can decide which one is next if you scroll down

Eastern Africa was the second-most attractive region in 2022 in terms of start-up funding ($1.2bn, 26%); in terms of number of $100k+ deals it pretty much tied with Northern Africa (231 deals, 23%). While it was already second to Western Africa in terms of deal count in 2021, it had ranked only #4 back then when it came to funding raised ($577m, 12%), making 2022 all the more exceptional for the region. The amount raised by start-ups in Eastern Africa more than doubled (+115% YoY) during the period.

Of the four main regions, it is the one where the biggest ecosystem - ‘Big Four’ Kenya - represents the largest share of the regional funding: 86%, 12 percentage points more than in 2021. Notable deals in the market include M-Kopa’s $75m round, Wasoko’s $125m Series B and Sun King’s $260m Series D. Beyond Nigeria, Kenya is the only other market in Africa to have attracted over $1bn in funding in 2022.

As opposed to Western or Northern Africa, no other country in the region has managed to attract more than $100m in funding in 2022. Tanzania - which ranks #8 at continent level - clocked in $80m (-16% YoY) through 11 deals, if we include Ubongo’s $27.5m LEGO Foundation grant, second only to Ramani’s $32m Series A. Next is Uganda (#10) with many more $100k+ deals (24) and great YoY progression (x2 YoY, from $36m in 2021 to $70m in 2022), the largest deal being Asaak’s $30m pre-Series A. Mauritius, Sudan, Ethiopia and Rwanda have also attracted funding in the millions in 2022; Rwanda though, despite recording 15 $100k+ deals in 2022 saw a steep YoY decrease in terms of amount raised (-78% YoY, from $16m to $4m). There was one $100k+ deal disclosed in Madagascar, while six countries recorded no activity at all in that range.

Eastern Africa’s share of the amount raised on the continent (26%) compares favourably to its share of Africa’s GDP (15%, +10pp) but less so to its share of Africa’s population (29%, -4pp). However, Kenya punches much above its weight with 22% of the funding raised compared to just 4% of the continent’s GDP and population. Funding raised per capita stands at $3 for the region - just below the $3.4pc continental average. In Kenya, it reached almost $19pc.

Comprehensive data about all the deals included in these numbers can be access through our deals database (newsletter readers get it at a discount but shhh). Now which map will we publish next week? Previous polls indicated Northern Africa might be next, but by a very small margin, so Let’s see:

🗺 2022 Map series 🗺 Western Africa 🗺