🚀 The 750 🚀

In Africa 750+ start-ups have raised a $1m+ round (or more) since 2019. Where can we find them?

Last week when we published our map looking at the geographic spread of start-up funding in Africa since 2019, we looked mostly at the total amount raised. But quite a few of you asked how many start-ups are actually behind these numbers. We thought it was a very good question, and decided to have a closer look…

We can’t count them all though. There are 100s of early-stage ventures out there getting started with a little funding gathered from family and friends, and it’s virtually impossible to know exactly how many. What’s more interesting to look at from our perspective though, is start-ups that have already raised enough to suggest they’re on to something good. We’re therefore looking at those ventures that have raised at least a 7-digit round ($1m+, equity and/or debt), an accomplishment at least 750 start-ups in Africa have managed to achieve since 2019.

• Once again, the Big Four reign supreme: they are home to more than three quarters of the start-ups who have raised a $1m+ round or more. Nigeria in particular claims 50% more such ventures than its peers South Africa, Egypt, Kenya who are in a pocket handkerchief.

• Other countries host to at least 10 such start-ups include most of those we found last week on the list of markets having attracted $100m+ since 2019: Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania, Tunisia & Senegal; plus Morocco which could be entering this club soon. Algeria and DRC however are relative under-performers with 3 and 4 respectively.

• Another 19 markets have seen at least one local start-up raise a 7-digit round since 2019, taking the total number of countries with such activity to 29. This also means that 25 countries haven’t recorded a single $1m+ deal since 2019, which most likely means they have not done so ever.

All those deals - and more! - are included in our database. You might have missed our Black Friday promotion last week, but you can still use this discount code if you need to purchase it. As crazy as it may sound, we’re now a month away from the end of the year. Next week' we’ll look at how the ecosystem did in November, which will give us a strong indication of how numbers might look for the full year. And look out for an invite soon for our quarterly/yearly insights Linkedin live extravaganza in Jan. Stay tuned!