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A recent report has revealed that start-ups in Nigeria, Kenya, and other African countries raised a total of $460 million in the first quarter (Q1) of 2025 through deals exceeding $100,000. This figure is only five percent lower than the $486 million raised in Q1 2024.

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The report, titled “Africa: The Big Deal,” noted that Q1 2024 was already a challenging quarter for start-up funding, and Q1 2025 is the second-lowest quarter since late 2020. However, the number of start-ups that announced at least $1 million in funding in Q1 2025 is aligned with the 2023-2024 average, with 52 start-ups meeting this threshold

According to the report, the ecosystem started the year on a high note, with close to $300 million raised by start-ups in January. However, the momentum slowed down in February with only $119 million raised, and further declined in March with a mere $50 million raised.

The report attributed the poor performance in March to the lack of deals exceeding $10 million. Unsurprisingly, the majority of the funding (83%) went to the Big Four – Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, and Egypt – with each country attracting roughly $100 million in funding.

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Fintech start-ups dominated the funding landscape, accounting for almost half of the total funding (46%). Energy and logistics & transportation start-ups followed, with 18% and 10% of the total funding, respectively.

The report also highlighted the persistent gender gap in start-up funding, with only 2% of the funding raised by female CEOs. When grants were deducted from the total, the share of funding raised by female CEOs fell to 0.7%.

The majority of the funding (79%) went to solo male founders or male-only founding teams, while diverse founding teams attracted 20% of the total funding. Solo female founders or female-only founding teams received a mere 1% of the total funding.

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