Welcome to the month of March as it has been another impressive journey for African startups in the last two months.
Early February, we detailed the fundraising journey of startups on the African continent, stating that more than $400 million was raised by 44 startups with 34 deals in the month of January.
Over $500 million was raised in February, however this time around, 48 African startups were involved, unlike January with 44.
February’s fundraising saw 16 startups secure funds from the North African region compared to the previous 11, 5 startups from the South African region, a stark contrast from the previous 10. East Africa had 9 while and West Africa region produced 17.
Out of the 48 startups, 8 announced undisclosed funding with Nigerian-owned Flutterwave securing $250m to hit unicorn status and the biggest disclosed funding for African Startups in February 2022.
Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya and South Africa like the previous month continue to dominate their respective region with fintech still taking over the scene for the month of February.
Here is a look at the fundraising by region
North Africa
A total of $77.7 million was raised in this region excluding undisclosed funding from 3 Egyptian startups, Nawah Scientific, Elmenus, and FreshSource. Notable funding include Egypt’s SWVL ($21.5m) and Thndr ($20)
Unlike in January when edtech and e-commerce platforms raised the most funding in this region, February saw no particular vertical dominate North Africa’s funding scene.
No fintech startup in North Africa raised funding in January, however, February produced Egyptian MoneyHash ($3m)
Out of the 16 startups that raised funding, 13 are Egyptian, Tunisia’s Avidea ($696k), Morocco’s Wafr ($372k) and Freterium ($4m) took the other 3 spots.
This clearly shows that Egypt continues to dominate the North African startup scene as it acquired 98.5% of the total disclosed funding of the region.
What is exciting about Egypt’s tech ecosystem? What are the other countries in this region doing to match up? We wait and see if March will come with a different tale.
Other fundraising startups still from Egypt include: YFS ($7m), Sokna ($1m), Nawry ($5m), Wasla ($9m), Samas ($150k), Milezmore ($5m), OneOrder ($1m).
South Africa
Startups from the Southern African region secured a total of $24.3 million with no case of undisclosed funding with API fintech Stitch closed the largest round ($21m).
Lipa another fintech startup secured $660k. Others include Excel@Uni ($300k), CarScan ($1.3m), and Zindi ($1m)
Unlike North Africa, which saw no domination of a particular vertical, the South African region appears to have a slight dominance from fintech.
South Africa produced all the 5 startups in this region. The previous report shows that only Namibia produced one. Why are startups in this region, not getting the required funding?
East Africa
East African startups raised $66.6 million in funding with Kenyan MarketForce secring the highest ($40m), renewable energy Sistema raking up $15.6 million, followed by another Kenyan startup Basigo ($4.3m) and yet Kenyan logistics Amitruck ($4m).
This total amount excludes undisclosed funding from fintech startup Chapchap and API fintech Credrails, both from Kenya.
Other fundraising include Ubawa ($350k), Afya Rekod ($2m), and CartnShop ($400k)
Fintech also dominated in this region while 7 out of the 8 startups are Kenyan, with only one from Uganda.
Rwandan startups haven’t been in the fundraising news lately.
West Africa
17 startups in this region secured up to $347m, excluding undisclosed funding rounds from Nigeria’s mobility startup Max, and Cameroon’s fintech company Maviance.
Asides from the earlier mentioned Flutterwave, Healthtech startup Reliance HMO raked $40m, followed by Paix ($20m) from Ghana and mobility fintech Moove with $10m.
Others include Nestcoin ($6.4m), Altschool ($1m), Casava ($4m), Mecho ($2.1m), Proxalys ($150k), Duplo ($1.3m), Remedial ($1m), CrowdForce ($3.6m), Earnipay ($4m), Canza Finance ($3.7m) and Voyance ($500k)
Fintech secured more funding in this region than any other vertical. Out of the 16 startups, 14 are Nigerian with Senegal, Ghana and Cameroon having the other 3 spots.
February saw a new entry from In Central Africa, Jambo a Congolese based web3 startup secured $7.5 million.
Watch out for this space to get a round-up of fundraising by African startups for March.
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