•Secure $803m in first four months
African startups raised a total of $343 million in April 2025, making a strong comeback after a disappointing March.
Africa: The Big, in its latest report, released yesterday, noted that the April funding is the second-best April on record, surpassed only by the funding frenzy of April 2022.
According to it, the funding represented a 4.5x increase compared to April 2024, offering strong signs that investor confidence in African innovation is rebounding – albeit with some caution.
Recall that in March, African startups managed to squeeze only $50 million from investors. The month’s funding was the lowest since 2020.
Indeed, April saw a handful of large deals, where South African healthtech company, hearX, led the way by raising $100 million through a merger with U.S.-based hearing aid firm Eargo.
It was the first mega-deal (worth $100 million or more) on the continent in 2025 and marks a significant cross-continental play in the global hearing health market.
Egyptian Islamic fintech Bokra raised $59 million via a sukuk issuance – a rare move for a startup just a year after its $4.6 million pre-seed round.
The deal not only showed the maturing of Islamic fintech in North Africa but also the growing investor appetite for alternative financing structures.
Stitch, a South African payments infrastructure firm, secured $55 million from existing investors as it expands its end-to-end payment solutions across the continent.
While the report excluded exits from the funding total, there were at least four notable exits in April, three of which were in fintech. For instance, ADVA in Egypt was acquired by UAE-based Maseera. Bankly, a Nigerian fintech, was bought by investment firm C-One Ventures.
South Africa’s Peach Payments acquired Senegal-based PayDunya to deepen its reach in Francophone West Africa.
Largely, the April rebound has improved the broader picture for African startup funding in 2025. Between January and April, startups raised $803 million across 163 deals, a 43 per cent increase from the $563 million raised in the same period last year.
The number of startups securing deals has also grown from 147 in January to April 2024 to 163 this year, showing improved breadth in deal flow.
At least 225 unique investors have participated in deals worth $100,000 or more so far this year, underscoring growing confidence and diversity in capital sources.
The report noted, “But if this pace keeps up, 2025 could well be a good year. Not to mention that since early 2024, at least $1.3 billion in funding was closed by VC funds focused on Africa, including Janngo Capital (with a focus on gender), Airnergize Capital, Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures, Saviu’s Fund II (focused on Francophone Africa) or LoftyInc Capital, to name just a few.”
