A Tuesday report by Big Deal revealed that African startups raised more than $119 million in February 2025, with 38 startups surpassing $100,000 each. However, this number is below the average for the past 12 months and Februarys since 2021.
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African startups raised $2.2bn in funding in 2024
In 2024, African start-ups raised $2.2 billion in grants, debt, and equity (not including exits). This represents a 25 percent decrease from the $2.9 billion raised on the continent in 2023. In 2024, 188 ventures (excluding exits) raised $1 million or more.
Similar to 2023, South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, and Kenya attracted 84 percent of all start-up funding in Africa in 2024 (excluding exits).
According to the latest data, the total amount raised in 2025 to yet ($408m) is slightly above the $400m raised in 2021 and more than the $302m raised during the same period last year.
“While the number of $100k+ deals overall announced in 2025 so far doesn’t compare favourably to the previous years, if we look at $1m+ deals specifically, we see that the 42 $1m+ deals announced since the beginning of the year are aligned with both 2023 (42) and 2024 (43) numbers and significantly higher than pre-heatwave levels (between 20 and 31 in 2019-2021),” said Max Giacomelli, who wrote the report.
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Startups in South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt raised the largest funds
The seven biggest deals, which accounted for 80 percent of the total, were all in the Fintech or Logistics & Transport sectors, which is consistent with 2024 trends, according to a breakdown. Most were in one of the “Big Four” (South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, and Egypt).
However, Togolese start-up Gozem reported the biggest deal of all, raising $30 million ($15 million in debt, $15 million in equity).
Some other noteworthy announcements include Affinity’s $8 million round (Ghana, Fintech); Raenest’s $11 million Series A (Nigeria, Fintech); Hakki Africa’s $13 million raise (Kenya, Fintech x Mobility); Khazna’s $16 million raise to expand in KSA (Egypt, Fintech); and Taager’s $7 million pre-Series B (Egypt, Logistics & Transport).