State of Funding in Africa- February Issue
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Despite all the love being shown this month, The startup and funding ecosystem seemed to be moving in anything but love with African Startups raising just $83million across 31 disclosed deals in January, according to data from Africa the big deal.
What does this mean for the rest of the year with startups having such a sluggish start?
Stick around as it's about to be another beautiful read with SOFIA.
January in retrospect…
In January 2022, reports revealed that the tech space had raised more than $400 million by 44 startups with 34 deals in the month of January while $545.1 million was raised in 20 deals during the same month in 2023.
Seeing an 84.8% year-on-year drop, investors are increasingly focusing on startups with proven track records of traction and growth, leaving fewer resources available for experimenting.?
2024, too early to spell doom?
Predicted to be generally a ”difficult startup year”, Startups are going to have to take drastic measures to stay afloat and not sink. The shutdowns of startups such as Zazuu, Pivo, 54Gene are not isolated incidents; they are part of a growing trend that may escalate in 2024.
In order to stay afloat industry top voices have recommended that startups:
Despite the ”funding winter”...
Partech Africa, the global VC fund, has closed “Partech II,” its second Africa-focused fund, at $300 million to invest in African startups in multiple sectors. It is the largest Africa-focused fund, doubling Partech’s first fund, which closed at $143 million in 2018. The new fund will focus on investing in seed to Series C rounds with ticket sizes ranging from $1 million to $15 million.??
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Partech is also set to open a new office in Lagos, The third of the establishment open in Africa as they look to expand their base and team here in Africa. “With our presence in Dakar, Nairobi, Dubai and now Lagos, we are strengthening our support on the ground for entrepreneurs,” said Tidjane Deme, general partner at Partech.
Nigerian online teaching platform Klas has raised $1 million in pre-seed funding led by Ingressive Capital, with participation from Techstars, HoaQ, and several angel investors. Founded in 2022 by Nathan Nwachuku and Lekan Adejumo, Klas enables users to create and sell e-books, courses, and live classes.
Logidoo, a digital logistics platform with bases in Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire and Tunisia has announced a significant boost in its seed funding securing $1.55million.
Logidoo has established itself as a ”cross-border end-to-end 5PL'' provider. To date the company has aggregated over 3,000 logistics suppliers, completed more than 100,000 operations, served over 400 clients and has a presence in eight countries across the continent.
On changing but never dying…
Kippa, the financial management startup backed by Target Global, is pivoting from fintech and is piloting a new edtech service.
This news is not surprising given the company's layoff of 40 employees last year and a difficult decision to shut down Kippa Pay in the same year.
The new edtech service allows users to create new online courses or deliver exciting ones in bite-sized formats using AI.
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