Start-ups in Nigeria and other parts of Africa have announced a total of $138 millions’ worth of $100k+ deals last month, if equity (89per cent), debt (nine per cent) and grants (two per cent) are included in the deal. This is slightly below the average raised monthly in the previous 12 months ($159million/month).
A total of 61 start-ups announced some level of fundraising ($100k+, excluding exits), which is significantly higher in this case than the average number of ventures who raised every month in the previous 12 months (42/month).
They were located in 12 different countries with 90 per cent of the amount raised going to the Big Four (Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria & Kenya) plus Ghana. The other countries represented were Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Côte d’Ivoire, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda.
Three start-ups announced more than $20million in funding during the month: Egypt-born and Abu Dhabi-based fintech FlapKap raised a $34million pre-Series A, a mix of debt and equity. Another Egyptian fintech, Paymob, celebrated a $22million extension to its Series B, and announced it is now profitable in its home country. Closing the top 3 is another fintech, in Ghana this time: Fido, who topped the $10million in debt announced in August with $20million in Series B equity funding in September.
Finally, there were two exits made public last month, the largest one being the acquisition of South African AI financial reporting platform Syft by global accounting software giant Xero for $70million.
Nigerian fintech Risevest also acquired Hisa in Kenya as a way to enter the market.
