With over 65% of the total capital obtained throughout the time period, East African companies emerged as the leaders in terms of finance.

In May 2023, startups in Africa marked a key milestone by raising $645 million through transactions worth at least $100,000. This demonstrated the ongoing expansion and success of the startup industry in the region and was the greatest month of May ever recorded in the African startup ecosystem.

April and January 2023 were somewhat slow for financing for African businesses, while May 2023 showed a notable improvement. According to statistics, just $129.8 million was collected in April 2023, a dramatic 68% decrease from April 2022 and less than the sum collected in April 2021.

Comparing the first quarter of 2023 to the important month of February 2023, there was a funding shortage for African companies. Startup fundraising totaled just $66 million in March 2023, making it the poorest month in 2.5 years (since August 2020). Furthermore, this was the first time since 2020 that African companies’ monthly investment total went below the $100 million threshold.

The amount of money raised by African digital startups in total in February 2023 totaled $700 million, which was the smallest sum for the month in the previous two years. Comparing this amount to the funding raised in February 2022, a 29% drop was seen.

The significant contributions to the May 2023 funding numbers for African startups came from two energy companies and one fintech company:

M-Kopa raised a combination of $200 million in debt and $55 million in equity
Sun King secured $130 million
TymeBank received $78 million in a pre-Series C funding round

Startups in East Africa took the lead in terms of funding, securing $414.7 million, or 64.6% of the total funding raised over the time period. M-Kopa’s $255 million funding round and Sun King’s most recent funding round of $130 million made significant contributions to this regional success.

Startups in South Africa raised $129.1 million, or 20.7% of the total capital over the time period, which was a significant amount of money. Digital bank TymeBank, which was successful in raising $77.8 million in a pre-Series C investment round, was the main contributor to this sum.

Nigeria-focused West African businesses received $58.1 million in funding, or 9.3% of all funding during the time period. The logistics firm Sabi, which raised $38 million in a Series B fundraising round, made a big contribution to this total.