South Africa, Nigeria Lead As Startups Raised Over $1 Billion In Funding In H1 2021

By Babajide Okeowo

Start-ups in Africa have raised over $1bn in funding in the first half of 2021, a new report by Substack, titled Mapping the Money has revealed.

Of the funding secured, South Africa and Nigeria are in a league of their own, and together attracted more than half of all the funding raised on the continent (28% & 27% respectively, at over $300m each).

Start-ups in Nigeria raised the sum of $324m in 64 deals to come in second place while South African start-ups raised the sum of $333 in 57 deals to clinch top place.

Kenyan start-ups raised $156m in 56 deals, Egyptian start-ups also raised $131m in 49 deals while Ghanaian start-ups raised $123m in only 18 deals.

Some of the notable funding rounds were closed by Kuda, Flutterwave, Termii, Kwik, Bankly and Appzone.

Of all the sectors, fintech remains the most funded sector in Africa. Nearly half (48%) of the funding went to fintech start-ups. This share is higher than in previous years where most of the fintech funding was raised in H2 (89% of it in 2019, and 76% in 2020).

Fintech startup, Flutterwave led the way with a momentous $170 million Series C raise to become the third payments unicorn in Africa.

Startups with all-male founding teams still took home most of the funding with 77%, while female CEOs raised 14% of the financing, up from 2% for the same period in 2020.

The second half of the year promises to be even more exciting as nearly $150m have already been raised by start-ups in Africa in the first 10 days of H2.

Most of the funding for the H2 went to Nigeria ($100m+ inc. $42m to FairMoney) and Egypt ($42m+ inc. $40m to MaxAB).