Africa’s startup ecosystem rebounded strongly in 2025, with total funding hitting a three-year high of $3.2 billion (Sh412.9 billion), according to the latest figures by research firm Africa: The Big Deal.
The figure represents a 45.5 per cent increase from 2024, marking a turnaround after two consecutive years of decline since 2023.
The performance compares with $2.2 billion (Sh283.9 billion) raised in 2024, $3 billion (Sh387.1 billion) in 2023 and a peak of $4.6 billion (Sh593.5 billion) in 2022.
Notably, the large four markets: Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa, dominated capital inflows, accounting for 82 per cent of all the funding on the continent.
Kenya tops the continental rankings, raising $984 million (Sh127.0 billion), equivalent to 32 per cent of all funding raised across the continent.
This marked the strongest annual performance by a single African market since 2022 and represented a 52 per cent year-on-year increase.
The surge was driven largely by major energy and climate-related players such as d.light, Sun King, M-Kopa, Burn and PowerGen.
Debt financing also played a central role in the counattempt’s performance, accounting for $582 million (Sh75.1 billion), or 60 per cent of the total raised, while equity funding almost doubled year-on-year to $383 million (Sh49.4 billion).
Despite the funding surge, the number of Kenyan ventures raising at least $100,000 (Sh12.9 million) fell 23 per cent to 75, the weakest displaying on this metric among the large four.
Egypt ranks second with $614 million (Sh79.2 billion) raised, representing 20 per cent of the continental total and a 51 per cent annual increase.
Roughly half of the funding was equity, with Egypt also emerging as the second-largest debt market in Africa at $278 million (Sh35.9 billion), while 61 startups raised at least $100,000 during the year.
South Africa follows closely with $600 million (Sh77.4 billion) in funding, up 51 per cent year-on-year and accounting for 19 per cent of the total.
More than 90 per cent of this capital was raised as equity, cementing South Africa’s position as the continent’s largest equity market, while the number of ventures raising $100,000 or more jumped 63 per cent to 83.
Nigeria, however, underperformed during the year, raising $343 million (Sh44.2 billion) and recording a 17 per cent decline from the previous year.
Its share of total African funding fell to a record low of 11 per cent.
“This is the lowest share we’ve ever recorded for Nigeria since we started tracking the numbers back in 2019,” reads the report.
Beyond the large four, markets such as Senegal, Benin, Ghana, Morocco and Rwanda continued to display signs of growth, highlighting a gradually broadening startup funding landscape across the continent.
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