According to a new report by Africa: the Big Deal, startups in Africa raised $2.2 billion in 2024 in equity, debt, and grants, a -25% drop compared to the $2.9 billion that was raised on the continent in 2023.
[TECH] REPORT | For the First Time, North Africa was Second Most Attractive Region After East Africa for Investing, Says 2023 Report: Funding for African tech startups declined by 39% in 2023, a new report s.. https://t.co/z2rCdMhoAA via @BitcoinKE
— Top Kenyan Blogs (@Blogs_Kenya) January 10, 2024
A total of 188 ventures secured $1 million or more in funding (excluding exits), marking only a 10% decline compared to 2023. Regarding exits, 22 were publicly disclosed last year, slightly up from 20 in 2023.
A closer look reveals that 2024’s relative underperformance was largely due to a sluggish start to the year, with just under $800 million raised in the first half – the slowest semester since 2020.
However, the latter half saw a significant recovery, with $1.4 billion raised (+25% year-over-year and +80% compared to H1 2024), making it the second-best semester since the onset of the ‘funding winter’ in mid-2022.
H2 2024 performance was primarily driven by the arrival of 2 new unicorns to Africa’s startup scene nearly two years – 20 months – after Egypt’s MNT Halan joined the list.
Nigerian fintech, MoniePoint, raised $110 million in Series C funding led by Development Partners International’s African Development Partners (ADP) III fund to accelerate its growth across Africa.
🇳🇬FUNDING | Nigerian Leading Merchant Fintech, MoniePoint, Raises $110 Million in Series C Funding to Become Africa’s Latest Unicorn
As Nigeria’s largest merchant acquirer, MoniePoint facilitates the majority of Nigeria’s POS transactions. https://t.co/g6neb7Dosu @moniepoint pic.twitter.com/SbfRoEPRxd
— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) October 30, 2024
Second, South African neobank, TymeBank, raised $250 million in a Series D round led by Nu Holdings, the parent company of Latin America’s most valuable fintech, Nubank, which invested $150 million for a 10% stake, with the raise bringing Tyme’s valuation to $1.5 billion.
🇿🇦 FUNDING | South African NeoBank, TymeBank, Raises $250 Million To Become Africa’s Latest Unicorn
TymeBank boasts 15 million users with 10 million users in South Africa alone.https://t.co/AHNVVzKFeJ @tymebankza pic.twitter.com/nYmI24AzSp
— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) December 18, 2024
Despite the overall drop in money raised by startups, the share of debt in the overall funding announced dropped from 38% in 2023 to 30% in 2024, said the report.
“While debt contracted -40% YoY, the total equity raised in 2024 ($1.5b) was ‘only’ -11% below 2023 numbers ($1.7b). It is quite encouraging to see equity levels stabilising, after taking the hardest hit in 2023 (-57% YoY).”
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