Africa's Big 4 🦁

Welcome to Prox Weekly #5!

In case you’re new here, this newsletter will get you smarter on Africa’s tech scene in under 5 minutes. Maybe 7 if you’re a slow reader 🐢

Happy Friday!

I’m taking some time off this week, so this one will be brief!

In this edition, we will explore which countries are dominating funding, talent and attention on the continent.

Thanks to Africa: The Big Deal for this data.

Let’s dive in!

Africa’s tech boom is here 💥

But, on a continent with 54 countries, where are Africa’s top startup ecosystems?

Just four countries dominate venture funding, attention and talent.

These countries attract 83% of the funding dollars of Venture Capital, and have produced 6 out of 7 of Africa’s Unicorns.

Meet Africa’s ‘Big 4.’

1. Nigeria 🇳🇬 - $3.5 Billion in funding since 2019

2. Kenya 🇰🇪 - $1.9 Billion in VC funding since 2019.

3. South Africa 🇿🇦 - $1.6 Billion in VC funding since 2019.

4. Egypt 🇪🇬 - $1.1 Billion in VC funding since 2019.

4. Egypt 🇪🇬

Bottom of the Big 4 is Egypt, the main ecosystem for startups in North Africa.

Egypt has raised 1.1B in VC funding since 2019. This makes up 12% of funding on the continent.

Notably different about Egypt is that fintech only makes up 13% of VC funding (compared to 38% in Nigeria, and 30% in South Africa).

The most active sectors in Egypt are consumer oriented - like e-commerce, consumer supply chain and ed-tech companies

Notable startups in Egypt include:

Fawry, Egypt’s largest e-payment network, which went public on the Egyptian Exchange in 2019.

Swvl, a bus ride-sharing company, and Africa’s first company to go public via SPAC.

3. South Africa 🇿🇦

Coming in third for venture funding is South Africa.

Known as most well-established startup ecosystem, South Africa had the highest deal volume in African in 2019 and 2020.

Since 2019, startups in South Africa have raised $1.6 billion, making up 16% of funding on the continent.

South Africa’s notable startups are in digital banking and fintech. Notably are:

Yoco, an offline payments platform for merchants, which raised a $83M Series C in July 2021.

TymeBank, a digital bank that raised a $180m Series B from Tencent in December 2021.

2. Kenya 🇰🇪

Coming in hot second for venture funding in Africa is Kenya - East Africa’s startup hub.

Kenya, otherwise known as Silicon Savannah is one of the most tech enabled cities in the world.

If you missed last week’s edition on Kenya’s tech transformation, you can read it below.

Startups in Kenya have raised $1.9B since 2019, representing 19% of the funding on the continent.

Most notable startups in Kenya include:

Twiga Foods, a food distribution platform that connects farmers to SMEs in cities, and raised a $50M Series C Round in November 2021.

Sun King, which offers off-grid, pay as you go energy technologies, and raised a $260m Series D in April this year.

MarketForce, a platform that lets retailers buy goods from distributors online, raised East Africa’s biggest Series A to date in February 2022 at $40m.

1. Nigeria 🇳🇬

The leader in venture funding in Africa is Nigeria.

Nigeria is Africa’s largest economy, with a population of 200 million that is expected to grow to 400 million by 2050.

Since 2019, startups in Nigeria have raised $3.5 billion - making up 36% of funding on the continent.

Nigeria hosts five of Africa’s Unicorns (in a pool of 7). Most notable are:

Flutterwave ($3B), which builds payment infrastructure for global merchants and payment service providers across the continent.

OPay ($2.1B), an ePayment wallet that lets users transfer money, pay bills

Andela (1.5B), a global job placement network for tech talent.

The Big 4

You may have noticed - each of these countries are the central ecosystem of their region in Africa.

Nigeria is the central ecosystem for startups in West Africa, Kenya in East Africa, Egypt in MENA (Middle East/North Africa) and South Africa in.. South Africa.

Which of these countries were you surprised to see here?

And which of them do you want to learn more about?

Let me know here on LinkedIn.

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Catch you next week!