Nigerian techies raise nearly as much as raised in North and East Africa
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
About $3.6 billion has been raised by Nigerian tech startups in the past three years, 85.71 per cent of $4.2 billion attracted by all startups in West Africa during the period.
West African techies received more than the combined $3.8 billion raised by their counterparts in North and East Africa, according to Africa: The Big Deal, a database and insights firm which focuses on startup funding in Africa above $100,000.
“With a total of $4.2 billion (41 per cent of the total), Western Africa is by far the region that has attracted the most funding since 2019.
“Start-ups in the region have attracted more funding than in Northern and Eastern Africa combined during the period,” The Big Deal said.
“As a matter of fact, start-ups in Nigeria alone almost outperformed those two regions combined ($3.6 billion vs $3.8 billion).
“Indeed, Nigeria represents the vast majority of the funding raised in Western Africa, 86 per cent since 2019, that’s 6 out of every 7 dollars raised.”
Nigeria’s dominance has begun to wane, from 93 per cent of total funding in West Africa in 2019 to 84 per cent in 2022 to date, although its absolute numbers remain staggering.
Startups in Nigeria raised the same amount in 2021 ($1.6 billion+) that was raised by all startups in Africa in 2020, The Big Deal noted.
Two other ecosystems in West Africa stand out with Ghana raising $279 million since 2019 (7 per cent of the regional total) and Senegal $243 million since 2019.
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Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal get 99% of funds
“Combined, Nigeria, Ghana, and Senegal have claimed 99 per cent of the funding in the region since 2019.
“So far the region has been performing really well compared to last year with just short of $1 billion raised between January and May 2022, to be compared with $342 million in the same period last year,” the Big Deal said, per The PUNCH.
“That said, January-May 2021 only ended up representing 17 per cent of the total raised in 2021 in the region, so the 2022 performance will eventually depend on the ecosystem’s ability to deliver a very strong H2 2022.
“More specifically, Nigeria’s performance in the second half of the year will strongly influence the performance of the region, and of the continent overall.”
A recent Global Startup Ecosystem Index by StartupBlink ranked the Nigerian startup ecosystem 61st globally and second in Africa.
It ticked Lagos the highest-ranked African city and the only one in the global top 100.
