Nigeria leads with 36% of equity funding for startups in Africa Q3 2023

Facts about Q3 2023

What should you know about start-up funding in Africa in the past quarter?

By Max Cuvellier Giacomelli

Round-Up. We’re not going to lie: it was a bit of a stretch to put it together at a pretty busy time, but the great feedback we received made it all worth it. And it seems we’ll be back with one of those next quarter for a Quarterly and Yearly Round-Up… In the meanwhile, you can download the deck we presented here. But we thought it might also be helpful for you to have a 10-point summary of key Q3 2023 data.

RELATED: Funding down for African startups inside the Big Four

So here we go:

Start-ups in Africa raised half a billion dollars in Q3 2023: $324m equity + $176m debt.
Quarterly funding raised (both equity and equity+debt) was at its lowest level since Q4 2020.
$2.3b ($1.4b equity + $0.9b debt) have been raised since the beginning of the year, less that half of the total amount raised in 2022.
For the first time since mid-2020, no mega deals were recorded in Q3 2023.
Nigeria was in the lead with 36% of the total equity funding raised. On the contrary, Egypt underperformed. Since the beginning of 2023, there is a relative balance in terms of equity funding raised amongst the Big Four.
Fintech continues to be the leading sector in terms of equity funding raised, though its share is historically low (with the exception of Q4 2022). Energy and Logistics & Transport complete the top 3.
Female CEOs raised 19% of the total equity funding, their highest share since Q1 2021. This percentage has been growing steadily for the past four quarters.
73% of the equity funding went to start-ups with no female (co-) founder(s) while on the contrary less than 2% was raised by start-ups with no male (co-) founder(s).
Total 2023 funding might reach $3b (equity + debt), $1.5b short of 2022 and 2021 levels. 2023 equity funding might not reach half of its 2022 and 2021 levels.
If you’re looking for more, you can