Concerns have recently been expressed about a dramatic decrease in investor funding across the African startup sector. Some stakeholders are already worrying about an impending finance shortage for African entrepreneurs.
It goes without saying that this is bad news for an ecosystem that relies on foreign investors for finance. There has already been a dramatic reduction in the amount raised by African companies in recent months, especially when compared to the first two months of the year.
According to data tracked by Business Insider Africa, between April and May 2022, African startups were only able to raise $300 million in equity capital, compared to $1.8 billion in the first three months of the year.
Despite this, there are some reasons to remain positive. The key reason for this is that African startups' funding increased by 150 percent in the first three months of 2022, outperforming all other regions. In this article will concentrate on ten African startups that have done exceptionally well in terms of funding in 2022 so far.
1 Flutterwave (Nigeria)
Flutterwave, a Nigerian fintech firm, tops the pack of start-ups with the largest fundraising round so far this year. The company announced a $250 million Series D investment round in February, with participation from B Capital Group, Alta Park Capital, Whale Rock Capital, Lux Capital, and others.
The fintech giant plans to use the capital to speed up client acquisition in existing areas and develop complementary goods, all while fostering product and service development innovation.
2 Wasoko (Kenya)
This Kenyan e-commerce powerhouse announced in March that it had raised $125 million in a Series A2 fundraising round headed by Tiger Global and Avenir Growth Capital. It was also renamed Wasoko from Sokowatch.
Wasoko enables merchants in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, the Ivory Coast, and Senegal to order products from suppliers by SMS or the Wasoko mobile app for same-day delivery to their stores and shops through a network of logistics drivers.
3 InstaDeep (Tunisia)
In January, this Tunisian artificial intelligence business announced a $100 million Series B fundraising round sponsored by Alpha Intelligence Capital and CDIB Capital. InstaDeep provides AI-powered decision-making platforms for businesses.
4 Clickatell (South Africa)
Clickatell is an e-commerce platform located in South Africa. In February this year, this chat-based e-commerce business revealed that it had closed a $91 million Series C fundraising round led by Arrowroot Capital, with Kennedy Lewis Investment Management, Endeavor Global, and Harvest also participating. The funds will be used to scale the firm's platform.
5 M-KOPA (Kenya)
This Kenyan based asset financier received $75 million from Generation Investment Management and Broadscale Group in March of this year. Previous investors such as CDC Group and Lightrock were also present. M-KOPA is a linked asset finance platform that provides life-enhancing products and services to millions of underbanked customers.
6 Moove (Nigeria)
Moove is a mobility fintech that gives mobility entrepreneurs revenue-based car financing, democratizing vehicle ownership across Africa. This Nigerian fintech startup revealed in March that it had raised $105 million in total capital, including $65 million in Series A equity funding and another $40 million in debt financing. Speedinvest, Left Lane Capital, and The Latest Ventures led the equity round.
7 Copia Global (Kenya)
Copia Global is a consumer catalog order and delivery service aimed at consumers in developing countries. Its service makes use of mobile technologies and a network of agents that act as distribution hubs to provide a large choice of high-quality goods at affordable costs to rural and peri-urban consumers.
This Kenyan e-commerce business announced the completion of a $50 million Series C financing led by Godwell Investors with participation from Zebu Investment Partners and the United States International Development Finance Corporation.
8 VALR (South Africa)
VARL is a South African-based crypto exchange startup. Clients can trade and store bitcoin (BTC) and 60 other cryptocurrencies on the platform. In March this year, the firm received a $50 million Series B round from Pantera Capital, Alameda Research, Cadenza, and others.
The funds will be utilized to expand into other African countries as well as other rising markets like India. The funding will also allow VALR to offer more products and services to its existing customers, as well as hire more workers.
9 Instabug (Egypt)
Instabug is an Egyptian anti-malware software startup that provides services to mobile app developers to detect faults and mistakes. In May, the startup received $46 million from Insight Partners in a Series C financing.
10 Market Force (Kenya)
Finally, Market Force raised a $40 million Series A round in February, led by V8 Capital Partners and including Ten13 VC, SOSV Select Fund, Vu Ventures, and Vastly Valuable Ventures.
This African B2B commerce platform plans to use the funds to expand its platform for consumer goods retail distribution and digital financial services throughout Africa.