Africa: The Big Deal

Africa: The Big Deal focuses on the African startup ecosystem, tracking investment trends, featuring key investors, and highlighting sector growths like FinTech and Energy. It also covers issues like gender imbalance in funding, regional funding dynamics, and the impact of economic conditions on startup funding.

Investment Trends Startup Ecosystem Sector Growth Funding Dynamics Economic Conditions Gender Imbalance

The hottest Substack posts of Africa: The Big Deal

And their main takeaways

⚡ 2023 ⚡ Top Investors of the Year ⚡

628 implied HN points • 15 Jan 24

Techstars was the most active investor in Africa in 2023.
Number of top investors in $100k+ deals decreased in 2023.
Investors like Founders Factory Africa, Y Combinator, and others did fewer deals in 2023 than in 2022.

🌦️ 2023 🌦️ Fewer investors, but no exodus 🌦️

648 implied HN points • 10 Jan 24

💼 Business Investment Africa Startup funding Venture Capital Entrepreneurship

In 2023, there were fewer investors in African startups, but there was no mass exodus.
47% of investors who put money into deals in 2023 hadn't done so in 2021 or 2022.
In 2023, 71% of investors were only involved in one $100k+ deal, with a few very active investors doing 12 or more deals.

🌪️ 2023 🌪️ A tough year for everybody 🌪️

589 implied HN points • 16 Jan 24

💼 Business Investors Africa

Africa had the strongest 3-year growth in equity funding despite a tough 2023
Africa represents less than 1% of all global equity funding
Africa and Europe are the only regions to show growth in equity funding between 2020 and 2023

🤷🏾‍♀️ 2023 🤷🏾‍♀️ Deep-rooted gender imbalance 🤷🏾‍♀️

609 implied HN points • 11 Jan 24

💼 Business Venture Capital Entrepreneurship

Female founders attract less funding than male founders
Start-ups with male founders or teams raised majority of funding in 2023
Little progress in gender balance in funding seen from 2022 to 2023

🍰 2023 🍰 Big Four domination. Yes, but... 🍰

609 implied HN points • 08 Jan 24

💼 Business Investments Startups Funding Market Share Africa

Big Four dominated startup funding in Africa in 2023.
Kenya attracted the most funding in Eastern Africa.
Nigeria's funding drastically dropped in 2023.

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Everything You Wanted to Know About 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣3️⃣ (and weren't shy to ask!)

511 implied HN points • 18 Jan 24

💼 Business Start-ups Data Analysis Social media Networking

The post provides key analysis on 2023 start-ups funding trends in Africa.
Content includes high-res slides for use in decks or social media.
A deals database is available with almost 3,000 deals worth $16.5 billion.

🛠️ 2023 🛠️ Fintech, Energy, and the rest 🛠️

216 implied HN points • 23 Jan 24

💰 Finance Fintech Energy Logistics Healthcare

Fintech and Energy sectors represented 69% of all funding raised in Africa last year.
Energy sector experienced the strongest growth in funding between 2022 and 2023.
Logistics & Transport maintained its position in the top 3 funded sectors since 2019.

A slow start of the year... [Jan 2024]

137 implied HN points • 06 Feb 24

💼 Business Investments Startups Funding Analysis

January 2024 had the quietest fundraising since 2019 with $77m raised
Three 8-digit deals made up 38% of the total raised in Africa last month
Top sectors for funding were Agriculture & Food, Healthcare, and Fintech

🌱 2023 🌱 Climate Tech on the rise 🌱

98 implied HN points • 25 Jan 24

🌞 Climate & Environment Climate tech Africa Investment Venture Capital Innovation

Climate tech startups in Africa raised over $1 billion in 2023.
Agtech dominates the early-stage pipeline in climate tech.
There is a need for more collaboration and diversified capital to spur climate tech innovation in Africa.

👩🏾‍💻 2023 👩🏾‍💻 Just a little more funding for Women CEOs 👩🏾‍💻

58 implied HN points • 30 Jan 24

💼 Business Entrepreneurship Funding Startups Gender Equality Venture Capital

Female-led ventures in Africa raised just above $200m in 2023, showing positive YoY growth.
Female CEOs represented 20% of ventures raising $100k+ in Africa in 2023.
Representation of women-led start-ups decreases in larger funding deals.