After a slow year, Africa’s startup ecosystem has finally regained its color in 2025. Fundraising reached $3.2 billion, excluding exits, returning to levels not seen since the post-COVID peak.
This amount surpasses those recorded in 2024, as well as in 2023. According to the specialized platform Africa: The Big Deal, a leading source for tracking venture capital on the continent, “the ecosystem kept us all on the edge of our seats this year.”
Funding increased by 40% year-on-year compared to 2024, a performance all the more significant as it follows two consecutive years of sharp decline: -35% in 2023, then -25% in 2024. “This is particularly encouraging after this double correction,” the platform highlights.
In detail, the recovery momentum appears more qualitative than quantitative. Africa: The Big Deal indicates that nearly 500 startups raised at least $100,000 in Africa in 2025 (excluding exits), a volume almost unchanged from 2024 (+2% year-on-year) and comparable to that of 2023.
In contrast, the growth is clear for larger amounts. The number of startups that raised at least $1 million reached 215 in 2025, up from 193 in 2024, an 11% increase, and a level close to that observed in 2023.
Simultaneously, 69 startups raised more than $10 million in 2025, compared to only 40 in 2024 (+73% in one year) and 62 in 2023. “This is the second-best result since we began tracking in 2019, the record remaining 2019 with 97 deals,” the platform notes.
Finally, eight African startups crossed the threshold of $100 million raised in 2025, compared to five in 2024 and four in 2023. The majority of these mega-rounds concern the energy sector.
On the investor side, mobilization remains broad and relatively stable. In 2025, at least 554 investors participated in deals greater than $100,000 on the continent.
The structure of this investor base is evolving little: 31% of them took part in more than one deal, while 7% were involved in more than five funding rounds, proportions comparable, or even slightly higher, to those observed over the past two years.
The platform further notes that the most active investor in 2025 (excluding subsidy bodies) was Digital Africa, with at least 23 announced investments. An initiative supported by the French Development Agency (AFD), Digital Africa primarily invests at the seed and early stages.
Since 2019, startups on the continent have raised nearly $20 billion, excluding exits. During this period, over 2,200 companies have raised at least $100,000, of which more than 1,000 have crossed the million-dollar threshold, nearly 300 have exceeded $10 million, and 33 startups have raised over $100 million. In total, more than 2,500 investors have participated in at least one deal.
Finally, it is worth recalling that, to date, the year 2022 remains the most successful ever recorded for African startups, with $4.6 billion raised, a record that has yet to be surpassed. It is followed by 2021, another exceptional year, during which fundraising reached $4.4 billion.
