Africa: The Big Deal

?? Africa just minted its 9??th unicorn! ?? Just when we thought the year was over... Tyme just announced a?mammoth $250m Series D - the largest round on the continent in nearly two years - at a valuation of $1.5b, making it Africa’s ninth unicorn. So despite wrapping up yesterday, I've taken out my pens and pencils out of their drawer and updated my post from last month focused on unicorns (our second-most read this year). To read "A new unicorn in time for Christmas ??", check out the link in comment below. And don't hesitate to subscribe to our newsletter while you're there ?? --- #startups #startupfunding #vcfunding #Africa #africatech #unicorn #unicorns

February 2025: Reasons to remain optimistic...

In February 2025, 38 start-ups in #Africa announced a total of $119m in funding through $100k+ deals. While this is lower than the average of the previous 12 months, the amount raised in 2025 so far ($408m) is higher than the amount raised in the same period last year ($302m). And while the number of $100k+ deals overall announced in 2025 so far doesn’t compare favourably to the previous years, if we look at $1m+ deals specifically, we see that the 42 $1m+ deals announced since the beginning of the year are aligned with both 2023 (42) and 2024 (43) numbers. Who were the top raisers in February? Gozem - Africa's Super App, Khanna, HAKKI AFRICA LIMITED, Raenest, Tether, Affinity Africa and Taager; all either Fintech or Logistics & Transport/Mobility, and the majority of them in one of the 'Big Four'... For more, check out my weekly post for Africa: The Big Deal (link in comment below)

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Can you believe we are already in March ?? ?? ?? Yep, and that also means we've just updated our database with all the deals from February! Last month more than 3 dozens startups in Africa have raised funding, totalling over $118M. Check them out!! ?? https://lnkd.in/eU3C-Y_P

Have you read "The rise of East Africa ??", our latest newsletter post? https://lnkd.in/d7jFkpiu

Sent your pitch deck and heard nothing?… With?Pitchwise, see exactly how investors engage - who’s interested, what they focus on… - and when to follow up. No more guessing. Just smarter fundraising. ?? Try Pitchwise for free!?? https://lnkd.in/ehJqxBy3 --- #funding #fundingnews #fundingdata #venturefunding #venturecapital #Africa *sponsored post*

Sent your pitch deck and heard nothing?… With?Pitchwise, see exactly how investors engage - who’s interested, what they focus on… - and when to follow up. No more guessing. Just smarter fundraising. ?? Try Pitchwise for free!?? https://lnkd.in/ehJqxBy3 --- #funding #fundingnews #fundingdata #venturefunding #venturecapital #Africa *sponsored post*

?? In both 2023 and 2024, #EastAfrica and #Kenya ???? have respectively been the region and the market attracting the most start-up funding on the continent. Start-ups in East Africa have raised just over $4b in funding since 2019, $3.3b of which (84%) went to #Kenya alone. This represents 25% of the total raised on the continent. Since the beginning of the funding winter in mid-2022, Kenya has consistently been the country attracting the most funding on the continent, a spot previously held by #Nigeria. As such, it is by far the ‘Big Four’ punching above its weight the most: in 2024 for instance, Kenya represented roughly 4% of the continent’s nominal GDP and population but attracted as much as 29% of the continent’s start-up funding! Who is raising all that funding? The top 3 is made of the historical pay-as-you-go off-grid-electric triad - Sun King, M-Kopa & d.light - who raised nearly $1.5b (44% of the total) since 2019; followed by retail/supply chain disruptors - Twiga Foods, Wasoko, Copia Global - who raised $400m in total in the same period, but have been facing a lot of difficulties recently... What to find out more? Check out 'The rise of East Africa ??', my latest post for our Africa: The Big Deal newsletter below ?????? --- #funding #fundingnews #fundingdata #venturefunding #venturecapital #Africa