Rabat – African startups have broken records in terms of the value of funding, raising at least $4.8 billion (MAD 49.19 billion) in 2022, a recent report by Max Cuvellier and Maxime Bayen indicated.
Titled “Africa: The Big Deal,” the report added that the continent’s startups also broke records in terms of the number of deals and investors. The African startup ecosystem attracted more than 1,000 unique investors last year, representing a 15% increase compared to 2021.
Meanwhile, over 1,000 deals, worth $100,000 (MAD 1.02 million) or more, were announced in 2022, up by 11% compared to the year prior.
“What a year it’s been! While in H1 [January to June] the African rocket seemed to be absolutely unstoppable, many held their breath in H2 [July to December] as it lost steam. It never crashed though, and as a whole, the ecosystem had a pretty solid year,” indicated the report.
African startups may have actually raised over $5 billion in 2022, the report suggested, noting that several investors refrain from sharing deals confidentially with them, while some startups do not update their financing round.
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“For this reason, we’re confident the $151m missing to reach the $5bn mark will eventually be accounted for,” added the report.
The “Big Four” – Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, and Egypt – have dominated the charts and attracted the most funding in 2022, reaching $1.2 billion, $1.1 billion, $820 million, and $550 million respectively. The four African nations attracted 75% of the total startup funding raised in the continent in 2022.
Not a good year for everyone
While 2022 was a good year for male-led startups in Africa, female-led startups only attracted $188 million (MAD 1.9 billion) in funding last year, representing a mere 4% of the total funding raised in the continent.
“Female-led and female-founded ventures attracted even less funding in 2022 than they had in 2021,” the report found.
The downward trend extended to the number of $100k+ deals announced by female-led startups, accounting for only 13% of the total deals, compared to 16% in 2021.
