A record of over $4 billion has been raised by tech startups operating in Africa, massively increasing the $1.1 billion that was invested in the continent in 2020.
In addition to Jumia, Interswitch, Flutterwave, and Andela, Africa is now home to three more unicorns: Wave, OPay, and Chipper Cash.
Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, and Kenya raised 80% of Africa’s total capital, with Nigeria alone accounting for 35% of that amount.
Senegal and Tanzania were two more markets that were active.
Despite Fintech’s dominance in overall investment, cleantech, which includes renewable energy and energy efficiency, is gaining ground, with healthcare, data and IT infrastructure, and agriculture following suit.
Nigerian – $1.37bn
South Africa – $838m
Egypt – $588m
Kenya – $375m
Senegal – $222m
Tanzania – $96m
Ghana – $48m
Algeria – $30m
Morocco – $29m
Tunisia – $23m
Uganda – $18m
Rwanda – $16m
DRC – $12m
Cameroon – $11m
Some of the most well-funded African tech startups in 2021 include the following:
Opay $400 million – (Pan African)
Wave $200 million – ( Senegal)
Andela $200 million (Pan African)
Go1 $200 million (South Africa)
Tymebank US$180million (South Africa)
Flutterwave $170 million (Nigeria)
Chipper Cash $150m – (Pan African)
Tala $145 million (Kenya)
JUMO $120 million (South Africa)
MNT-Halan US$120 million (Egypt)
TradeDepot $110 million (Nigeria)
MFS Africa $100 million (Pan African)
The startup sector in Africa is only expected to grow in the future, based on current trends. It is expected that in 2022 there will be more funding rounds to be completed.
Read more on Tech Gist Africa:
Meet the six African startups named Technology Pioneers of 2021 by the World Economic Forum