Analysis: These Four Countries Are Leading Africa’s Start-Up Scene — Here’s Why
Unperturbed by the COVID-19 pandemic, international investors have continued to pour money into the African continent’s start-up scene — but that influx of cash is not being distributed evenly.
In fact, the vast majority of venture capital in Africa is scooped up by just four countries: Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa and Kenya, Africa’s “big four.”
According to the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) 2021 report, these four countries account for about a third of the continent’s start-up incubators and accelerators and receive 80% of foreign direct investment (FDI) into Africa.
The African tech start-up scene is growing
The seventh edition of Disrupt Africa’s African Tech Startups Funding Report revealed that start-ups in the big four raised a combined $1.9 billion in 2021 — about 92.1% of the overall total investments raised in Africa for that year. The latest figures are, in fact, part of a years-long trend of the big-four dominance in Africa’s start-up scene.
Photo courtesy Vu Hoang.
Source: World Economic Forum (link opens in a new window)
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