In the first half of 2025, fintech dominated African start-up funding, capturing 45 percent of total investment, according to the platform Africa: The Big Deal, which tracks start-up financing across the continent.
- In the first half of 2025, fintech dominated African start-up funding, capturing 45 percent of total investment, according to the...
- Fintech firms raised approximately $640 million during this period.
- This is in line with what we’d seen in 2024 (47 per cent) but higher than in previous years,” the...
- “Fintech deals remained significantly bigger on average ($1.7m median, $10m average in H1 2025) than non-fintech transactions ($0.5m median, $4.8m...
Keep reading for the full breakdown on African startup funding — everything you need to know is covered below.
Fintech firms raised approximately $640 million during this period.
The report noted that fintech’s share of funding remains robust, consistent with 2024’s 47 percent, and markedly higher than in previous years.
“Fintech alone attracted 45 percent of all funding (exc. exits) in H1, bagging around $640m. This is in line with what we’d seen in 2024 (47 per cent) but higher than in previous years,” the report stated.
“If we look at the longer-term trend, moving to 12-month rolling periods, we clearly see that after 2-2.5 years of relative decline (the share went down to 28 percent about a year and a half back, almost an all-time low), fintech is gaining serious ground again (51 percent of all funding in the past 12 months), not too far from its all-time high in terms of share of funding.”
Top five biggest fintech deals
The first half of the year saw five of the biggest fintech deals: Wave Money’s massive $137 million debt deal, Bokra’s $59 million sukuk raise (Egypt), Stitch’s $55 million Series B (South Africa), LemFi’s $53 million Series B (Nigeria), and the $50 million bond issued by MNT-Halan’s Tasaheel (Egypt).
Kenya remained an anomaly among the Big Four, raising only $23 million in H1 2025, while each of its peers raised over $100 million, according to the report.
Since 2019, South Africa, Egypt, and Nigeria have attracted the majority of fintech funding, securing 61 percent, 57 percent, and 56 percent, respectively, while Kenya accounted for just 10 per cent.
“Fintech deals remained significantly bigger on average ($1.7m median, $10m average in H1 2025) than non-fintech transactions ($0.5m median, $4.8m average). As such, in terms of share of deals, fintech seems a little less hegemonic, representing ‘only’ 27 per cent of the deals in H1 2025.
“The share climbs up to 31 per cent if we look only at $1m+ deals and 46 per cent (17 out of 37) for $10m+ deals. Just 21 per cent of the smallest deals ($100k-$1m), though, were raised by fintech ventures,” the report added.
Beyond fintech
Beyond fintech, other sectors attracting significant investment included energy ($220 million, 20 percent), healthcare ($160 million, 11 percent), logistics and transportation ($116 million, eight percent), and proptech, led by Egypt’s Nawy, which raised $75 million in the continent’s largest-ever proptech funding round.
Healthcare comes in third ($160m, 11 percent), enhanced by the $100 million that hearX secured through its merger with Eargo, a U.S. company (South Africa).
In Kenya, half of the funds raised since 2019 have gone to the energy sector, driven by major deals like Burn Manufacturing’s $85 million raise and PowerGen’s $55 million funding. By contrast, energy accounted for just seven percent in South Africa, six per cent in Nigeria, and two percent in Egypt, with a continental average of 16 per cent.
Meanwhile, Nigerian start-ups secured the third-largest funding total nationwide in the first five months of 2025, underscoring their growing prominence in Africa’s tech ecosystem.