Kenya overtakes Nigeria in Africa's tech funding

By Motolani Oseni

Kenya has overtaken Nigeria, gaining the highest amount of tech funds on the African continent, in 2023, a report has revealed.

The report by ‘Africa: The Big Deal’, a tech research firm, showed that for the first time in a while, tech funding across the four markets was distributed relatively equally.

The research claimed that the allocation of tech financing among the four biggest tech markets in Africa—Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa—is beginning to stabilize.

“In 2023, the ‘Big Four’ attracted 87 per cent of all the start-up funding in Africa, their largest share since 2019. They were home to 71 per cent (357 out of 500) of the start-ups who raised $100k or more on the continent last year. Given their weight, their ranking pretty much mirrors the regional one, with Nigeria’s story quite different from the others,” the report revealed.

With just under $800 million raised in 2023, Kenya attracted the most funding, 28 per cent of the continent’s total, the report disclosed, adding that, “While it suffered a decline (-25% YoY), its share of Eastern Africa’s funding grew from 86 per cent in 2022 to 91 per cent in 2023. 93 start-ups raised $100k or more during the period (19 per cent of Africa’s total).”

Nigeria had the most glaring change, going from $1.2 billion in 2022 to $410 million in 2023, the lowest of the big four, despite having 146 start-ups during the year, the highest of the big four.

As for Egypt, it had about 48 ventures, which raised $100k+ in 2023, the lowest number out of the Big Four. However, it had a total funding of $640 million, the second highest after Egypt, It is also home to the unicorn MNT-Halan which raised over $400 million by itself.

South Africa that boasted 70 start-ups, raised at least $100,000 in capital totaling $600 million in funding for 2023.