International Finance
Company Fintech SME

Kenyan startup funding rises 136% in 2018, outpacing Nigeria, SA

Nigeria attracted $306 mn over 26 deals while South Africa slowed with $250 mn in startup funding over 37 deals

 Outpacing Nigeria and South Africa, Kenyan startup funding increased 136 percent year-on-year to $348 million last year, Partech Africa observed in its annual report. Kenyan startups received the funding through 44 new deals reflecting a 76 percent year-on-year growth in the number of deals.

The report found fintech to be the top-funded vertical in Africa. A total of 11 startups raised 13 rounds of funding of more than $5 million. Kenya’s top startups by funding include Tala, Cellulant, and Dlight. Others prominent startups to raise funding are Branch, Twiga Foods, MKopa, Africa’s Talking, Lori Systems, Mobius,  BitPesa and WeFarm.

Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa were at the forefront of startup investment in Africa, receiving 78 percent of the total funding in the region, followed by Egypt at fourth place, the report said. Nigeria attracted $306 million in funding over 26 deals and South Africa slowed down with $250 million in funding over 37 deals.

That said, 19 countries from the rest of the continent have also achieved at least one tech deal above $200K this year, signifying Africa’s overall development. Egypt achieved 19 deals, nearly catching up with South Africa in tech startup funding. Cyril Colon, partner at Partech Africa Fund, said: “It’s quite simply astonishing. When we started our journey to create the Partech Africa Fund in 2015, we had anticipated the $1 Billion mark to be broken by 2020. We are now already two years ahead of our projections.”

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