In early April, we detailed the fundraising journey of African startups on the continent, stating that more than $500 million was raised by startups in the month of March. Unlike March, the month of April saw $101.6 million raised from 28 startups compared to March’s 44.
April’s fundraising saw 14 startups secure funds from the West African region compared to the 15 previous. East dropped drastically to 3 compared to the previous 11, while North Africa dropped from 17 to 8. Surprisingly South Africa moved from 1 to 3.
Out of the 27 startups, 4 announced undisclosed funding with Egypt’s infrastructure startup Pylon securing $19m, making it the biggest disclosed funding for African Startups in April 2022.
This is however on the lower side compared to fintech mobility startup Moove which raised the highest in March ($105m).
Nigeria and Egypt dominated their respective region, however, Kenya didn’t come to the party.
Fintech (5) raised funding the most, followed by e-commerce startups (4). Health tech came close with 3 startups.
Here is a look at the fundraising by region:
West Africa
A total of $52 million was raised in this region excluding undisclosed funding from 2 Nigerian startups, Sycamore and ShapShap.
Notable funding includes Nigerian fintech Umba ($15m) Ghanaian agtech Farmerline ($12.9m) and Nigerian fintech Ziroopay ($11.4m).
Out of the 14 startups that raised funding, 12 are Nigerian, while Ghana (Farmerline) and Senegal (Kwely – $700k) had one each.
Like March, Nigeria continues to dominate the West African startup scene as it acquired 48.6 % of the total disclosed funding of the region.
Other fundraising startups still from Nigeria include: Auxano ($500k), Imalipay ($3m), Simpu ($1m), ETAP ($1.5m), Rise ($150k), Syarpa ($500k), 9jacodekids ($350k), Oneport ($5m)
North Africa
8 startups in this region secured up to $26.9m. 7 out of these startups are Egyptian, including Pylon which was mentioned earlier. Moroccan fashion startup Nessiam raised $306k while ShiftEV and Rology’s were undisclosed.
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 May will come with a different tale.
The Egyptian startups are Food Labs ($4.5m), Sprints ($1.2m), 07 Therapy ($2.1m), WaFR ($735k)
East Africa
Only 3 startups raised funding in this region.
East African startups raised $12.6m in funding with Zambian Union 54 securing $12m and Malagasy edtech Sayna ($638k). Ecommerce Startup Elloe didn’t disclose its figures
Kenya dropped the ball in April compared to March.
South Africa
3 startups also raised funds in this region, slight progress from last month that saw only one startup secure fund
Smart wage ($2m), Biocertica ($1.6m) and Inseco ($5.3m)
Watch out for this space to get a round-up of fundraising by African startups for May.
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