Tunisia ranked 7th among Africa’s top venture capital destinations in 2025, according to the latest assessment by the African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association, highlighting both the progress and the limits of the country’s startup ecosystem.
Building a venture capital ecosystem in Africa is not only about injecting funds into startups, but about fostering an environment where regulation, infrastructure, human capital, and innovation work together to deliver sustainable growth.
In 2025, funding raised by African startups increased by 4% year on year to reach $2.9 billion. Despite this growth, investment remained highly concentrated in a small number of ecosystems, with most capital flowing to the continent’s main economic hubs, commonly referred to as the “Big Four”: South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, and Kenya.
To capture this reality, AVCA published its 2025 ranking of Africa’s leading venture capital destinations, based on criteria including ecosystem size and maturity, number of funded startups, talent availability, infrastructure quality, and access to financing.
Within this ranking, Tunisia secured a spot in the top 10, placing 7th in terms of the number of venture capital deals. However, its performance remains modest compared to larger regional ecosystems, both in deal count and in total capital raised.
In concrete terms, Tunisia recorded just 17 VC deals in 2025, with local startups raising a combined $39 million over the year. These figures point to real but still limited potential, reflecting the country’s relatively small market and the cautious stance of foreign investors. Compared with hubs such as Lagos, Nairobi, or Cape Town—where funding volumes and the number of backed startups are significantly higher—Tunisia remains an emerging market, where each successful fundraising round has a notable but often isolated impact.
Across the continent as a whole, venture capital activity continues to be dominated by the “Big Four,” which together accounted for 53% of total deal volume and 45% of the value invested in 2025.
South Africa topped the ranking with 83 deals worth $524 million, followed by Egypt with 68 deals totaling $604 million, Nigeria with 65 deals for $287 million, and Kenya in fourth place with 53 deals amounting to $335 million.
Morocco ranked 5th, standing out as North Africa’s most dynamic ecosystem in 2025, with 31 deals and $114 million raised.
Other countries also made their mark, albeit with more modest figures: Uganda recorded 22 deals for $302 million, Ghana posted 16 deals worth $49 million, Ivory Coast ranked 9th with 9 deals for $22 million, while Cameroon rounded out the top 10 with 8 deals totaling $26 million.
