Last month, start-ups in Africa raised over $250million in funding with Nigeria leading the pack with megabucks coming to Moniepoint and Yellow Card.
According to a report entitled: Africa: The Big Deal, 42 start-ups on the continent announced a total of $254million in funding plus over $100, 000 in equity, debt and grants excluding exits.
In total, $1.7 billion has been raised this year by start-ups on the continent, a 33 per cent decline when compared with what was raised in corresponding period last year.
From the total cash raised perspective, this is the second-best month this year (after July), and almost 50per cent over the previous 12-month average. As a matter of fact, it is the best October on record since 2019.
Nigerian Fintech Moniepoint’s $110million Series C accounted for 43per cent of the total. It made headline news last week, and understandably so. The continent is thought to have minted its eight unicorn (though the valuation of some of Moniepoint’s peers is based on their last raise which in some cases is getting quite old).
The other two largest rounds last month were BasiGo’s $42million Series A and Nigeria’s cryptocurrency exchange Yellow Card’s $33million Series C.
Overall, 60per cent of the funding in October went to start-ups in Nigeria, and 60per cent to Fintech; 98per cent was invested in start-ups with a male CEO; 97per cent in ventures without a female founder (#notimpressed). One exit was also announced last month: OmniRetail acquired Traction Apps in Nigeria.
In 2024 so far, start-ups in Africa have now raised $1.7 billion in total down -32per cent year-on-year (YoY) compared to the same time in 2023. Last year, this much had already been announced by early June i.e. almost 5 months earlier than in 2024. 393 ventures have already raised $100k or more in 2024 (-10per cent YoY), 137 of which have announced $1million or more in funding (-20per cent YoY).
Moniepoint had raised $110million in funding from investors including Google and London-based private equity firm Development Partners International (DPI), according to its statement.
The investment had boosted the tech start-up’s valuation to over $1billion for the first time according to themoriningstar.com.ng.
“The capital raised will be used to accelerate Moniepoint’s growth across Africa, building an all-in-one, seamlessly integrated platform for African businesses of all sizes.
“This platform will include services such as digital payments, banking, foreign exchange, credit, and business management tools, making it a one-stop shop for business solutions,” it had said.
