African Tech Startup Funding Report

It all started with Flutterwave being valued at over a billion dollars. While we were still basking in that euphoria, more news came — that Kuda had raised $25 million in investor capital. Almost in quick succession, Kwik also raised $1.7 million in Venture Capital. For many African startup companies, there is no better news in the month of March 2021.

Still, some will say that Flutterwave, Kuda, Interswitch, and Paystack all offer financial services, but Kwik’s case makes this argument of little importance. For all the companies mentioned above, technology serves as their common denominator.

The handwriting has been on the wall for a while, but in March 2021 it became visible for all to see…that the African technology industry is coming of age, and Africa is becoming a force that can no longer be overlooked in the global tech space.

The news about Flutterwave becoming a unicorn is definitely outstanding, but in no way is it a stand-alone occurrence. For a while now, African tech startups have been witnessing a year-on-year increased investment interest from all over the world. What Flutterwave did was to wake us up to this reality — that Africa’s tech startup companies are the new gold rush.

The bulk of the funds flow into the big four countries — Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt and Kenya, still, significant investments have been reported in other countries as well.

A breakdown of the sectors shows that Fintech, e-commerce, transport, retail-tech, e-health, logistics, energy, recruitment and HR, ed-tech, agri-tech, AI/IoT, prop-tech, marketing, auto-tech, and cybersecurity, continue to see the inflow of funds from investors.

In truth, there are lots of problems that require attention on the continent. Some are so basic that they are unthinkable in other parts of the world.

Africa’s problems are indeed enormous…though not insurmountable.

You should also read: Rethinking Africa and the Future of Work

Despite the level of challenges, Africa’s tech industry is rapidly changing the face of the continent. Propelling this change in fortune is technology, and especially the increased access to mobile devices.

This increased access to mobile devices provides needed room for tech to be a major catalyst for solving lots of problems. From fintech to e-health, e-commerce, ed-tech, and more, technology keeps proffering solutions to numerous problems on the continent.

It is worth mentioning that the problems that many African startups are solving emerge out of necessity and organic need for solutions rather than disrupting the current landscape as witnessed elsewhere.

Financial Technology (FinTech) has been solving the problem of the unbanked. In 2020 alone, ninety-nine (99) African startup companies raised funds from external investors (refer to Disrupt Africa document). This is set to continue, and the number of unbanked adults on the continent is set to reduce considerably in the years to come.

Africa’s e-health space is another crucial sphere that has been receiving lots of external venture investment in recent years. A total of forty-one (41) African startups received e-health funding in 2020 alone.

Tech innovations in health have included mobile app development, online drug stores, and online medical consultation platforms. For rural communities, USSD services and text messaging are becoming the go-to health integration technique.

For the growing African youth population, technology also provides a way out for them to have in-demand jobs and earn a better living. The wide range of problems that will be solved through technology means that lots of opportunities will become available that African youths can tap into.

Lots of mobile applications will be developed to cater to different problems (e-commerce, fintech, e-health, etc), lots of online marketing to be done, web designs and UI/UX Design, software testing, cloud data storage, business data analytics, new product designs, to name a few.

You should check out: How COVID-19 Taught us the Importance of Upskilling

If you have taken the time to read this far, it is almost certain that you have agreed to Africa’s growing tech potential. The best thing you can do then is to avail yourself of the opportunities that come along with these developments. Learn relevant, in-demand tech skills and be part of Africa’s new gold rush.

Come to think of it, many African institutes of higher learning severely lack the capacity to bring needed job-ready skills to Africa’s growing youth population. The onus, therefore, lies on you to make yourself relevant.

UI/UX design, Software Development, Software Testing, Data Science, Cloud Engineering, Dev Ops, or any other tech skill you have an interest in. Just get on the learning train and be part of Africa’s tech industry.

Also, you need not panic about how to get started. We are here to help.

As African startup companies continue to come up with innovative ways of deploying technological solutions to the continent’s challenges, expect the current trend of foreign capital investment to continue.

Indeed, the African tech train is already in motion for the whole world to see. It is your responsibility to get up, get on the tech train, and be part of the new gold rush.

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