Tech Safari Wrapped: 2024

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This week, we’re taking stock of everything that happened in African tech this year - the highs, the lows, and the lessons.

Let’s get into it!

If you were in African tech this year, one thing’s for sure:

2024 was a wild ride.

We came down from the funding euphoria of 2020–2022, saw a few startup blowups, and got a reality check.

Now, we’re in the middle of a massive reset.

Funding is crawling back. Exits are making headlines. And hey, we even crowned a new unicorn.

Here’s your two-minute tour through African tech in 2024.

Strap in.

First, the big bad blowups

2024 didn’t hold back, starting with quiet shutdowns from Buycoins and Cova in January. Then things escalated:

• Marketforce pulled the plug on RejaReja, its B2B e-commerce arm, despite a $40 million raise in 2022.

• Copia Global, a Kenyan B2B retailer, couldn’t stay afloat and shut down after firing 1,000 employees.

• Mara, a Nigerian crypto startup, shut down with massive controversy, after burning through $16 million in eight months without a product.

• Gro Intelligence, which raised $125 million in 12 years, closed up shop after failing to turn its agritech platform into a money-making business.

These stories hit hard, but the lesson’s clear:

Throwing cash at a problem won’t build a sustainable company.

Companies need to think hard about unit economics as they build in 2025.

Profitability > growth-at-all-costs.

The funding Ferris wheel

VCs went quiet this year.

Total funding was about $1.7 billion - 32% less than in 2023.

But surprisingly, more startups got funded, and we saw some killer rounds:

• Moove raised $100 million from Uber to expand into more cities globally.

• Nala landed a record-breaking $40 million Series A to scale cross-border payments in Tanzania.

• Yellow Card closed $33 million to scale crypto payments across the continent.

The Big Four (Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya, and South Africa) still took most of the funding pie.

But breakout markets like Tunisia, Senegal, Ethiopia, and Uganda got their share of the spotlight.

These “lake markets” are interesting because while they may not have the market size of a Big Four, startups can go deep on one problem and completely own the market.

Just like Wave did in Francophone Africa.

We might see more startups take the jump in these markets next year.

Exit Season was a thing

2024 saw startups teaming up or cashing out:

• Wasoko and MaxAB merged to become an e-commerce powerhouse.

• PaySpace got scooped up by Deel for $110 million.

• Hisa got bought out by Risevest.

• Lesaka acquired Adumo for $96 million.

• And rumors are swirling about Moniepoint acquiring Kopo Kopo.

African startups are learning to win together and it’s paying off.

Moniepoint joined the Three Comma Club

In October, we minted a new unicorn.

Moniepoint, the Nigerian fintech, hit a billion dollars after raising $110 million.

This massive win turned the energy around in a year that has been a downer for funding.

Moniepoint took it in stride, giving us an emotional moment filled with stories from their journey.

They started out building tools for banks but pivoted to serve Nigeria’s informal businesses through POS machines.

Today, it has 2 million businesses transacting daily and processes $17 billion in payments every month.

Moniepoint isn’t just a unicorn. It’s the kind you rarely see - tough, profitable, and with a lot more room for growth.

And it taught us how to build in Africa’s informal markets.

African startups went global

2024 drove home a hard truth: local markets can’t always cut it.

With currencies tumbling (the Naira lost 70%, the Egyptian pound 36%, startups had to look elsewhere to survive and grow.

This year, we saw bold global moves:

• Grey expanded to Latin America and Southeast Asia.

• Kuda took its remittance game to the UK.

• Qara set up shop in Saudi Arabia.

• Bamboo launched a remittance product in Canada.

More global moves are likely to follow next year, whether for survival or scaling.

And we’ll see more African founders building with the global market in mind from day one.

Funds are in on this too, and some - like Resilience17 - want to support founders building for the world.

Tech vs. Politics: Kenya’s Showdown

In March, Kenyans had a face-off with their government when they protested against the Finance Bill.

The bill threatened to tax everything - from bread to content creators.

And Kenyans weren’t having it.

So they fought back and used tech to protest in the coolest ways:

• Zello walkie-talkie app helped protesters evade the police.

• Finance Bill GPT broke down the bill for everyday people.

• M-Changa was used to raise over $155,000 to cover medical bills for injured protesters

• And massive Twitter Spaces got the president’s attention.

In the end, the protesters won, and the bill was scrapped.

But the protest proved that tech isn’t just about startups - it’s really a tool for social change.

The Lighter Side: Delve-Gate

In April, Paul Graham (founder of Y Combinator) claimed “delve” was a word only AI uses.

Africans weren’t having it.

The backlash was hilarious, with people throwing out “delve” and other big words in everyday tweets.

The deeper takeaway? Africa needs its own AI systems to tell its story and solve its own problems - or risk being left out.

What’s Next for 2025?

2024 had its high and low moments, but that’s part of the African tech story.

We bled, we healed, we learned lessons.

Last month, we talked about these lessons at Latitude59 Kenya.

One of the key takeaways is that 2025 is the next wave for African tech.

There’s a clearer picture of what a good African tech company looks like - strong, profitable, and with unit economics that make sense.

And my guess is we’ll see more companies like this pop up in Africa next year.

What do you think is up next for African tech?

Drop your predictions here.

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