A new report by Disrupt Africa, the African Tech Startups Funding Report 2022, reveals that Nigeria attracted the largest tech startup investments in Africa last year, with $976 million invested in 180 fintech startups. Nigeria’s startups made up 28.4% of Africa’s funded ventures and received 29.3% of the continent’s total investments. The report stated that African tech startups raised more funding than ever before in 2022, with a total of 633 startups raising $3.3 billion, which was 55.1% more than the $2.15 billion raised by 564 African startups in 2021.
The report showed that the record for the largest round ever raised by an African tech startup was broken once again in 2022, with Nigerian fintech startup Flutterwave topping the list with $250 million raised in February. Other startups that raised significant amounts include Moove, a Nigerian mobility fintech company ($181.8 million across five investments), MNT-Halan ($150 million), Yassir ($150 million), Wasoko ($125 million), InstaDeep ($100 million), Clickatell ($91 million), and M-KOPA ($75 million).
The report also revealed that there were at least 987 disclosed investors in African tech startups in 2022, up 216 from the 771 tracked in 2021, marking the largest amount of individual disclosed investors on record. Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa, and Kenya remain the “big four” of African startup funding, but startups from more African countries secured investment, with Egypt and Kenya reporting decent growth.
Additionally, startups from 27 African countries received funding in 2022, more than ever before, and the report noted that funding is starting to become slightly more evenly distributed. Despite a record-breaking year for funding in Ghana and Tunisia, the “big four” remains entrenched with no sign of becoming a “five” or “six.”
To start 2023 on a high note, two Nigerian startups won $300,000 at the LEAP Rocket Fuel Pitch Competition in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. RiceAfrika Technologies, a tech-driven agri-optimization startup, emerged as the global winner in the ‘Tech for Humanity Award’ category, while Wicrypt, a tech startup that aims to decentralize the internet globally, won in the ‘Into New World Award’ category.
