MT African tech startups raised a total of $1.163 billion in equity deals in 2018 with Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa receiving 78% of the total funding.
In its 2018 report on the financing of African Startups, Partech said the funding was 108% year-on-year growth compared to +33% in 2016 and +53% in 2017.
The report, in its third year, covers equity deals in tech and digital spaces, and funding rounds higher than $200,000 and lower than $100 million. Deals covered are both disclosed and undisclosed and the report only includes African start-ups.
“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 2 years ahead of our projections,” says Cyril Collon, General Partner at Partech Africa Fund.
Here’s the breakdown of the funding across seven African countries:
1. Kenya
- Equity funding: $348 million
- Deals: 44
2. Nigeria
- Equity funding: $306 million
- Deals: over 26
3. South Africa
- Equity funding: $250 Million
- Deals: 37
4. Tanzania
- Equity funding: $75 million
- Deals: 6
5. Egypt
- Equity funding: $67 million
- Deals: 19
6. Malawi
Equity funding: $28 million
Deals: 1
7. Senegal
- Equity funding: $22 Million
- Deals: 4
