African startups struggle as funding drops to 9%

•Nigeria, South Africa produce two more unicorns in 2024
Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa and other parts of Africa, which recorded $2.01 billion in funding from over 380 equity, debt and non-dilutive deals with over 450 investors participating, in early-stage startups, have suffered significant drops in funding.

Findings from the African Venture Capital Report 2024, from WeeTracker Media and Future Africa, which revealed this, noted that Africa’s later-stage deals were grabbing more attention and more funds.

The report observed that there had been a global downturn in startup investment over the past few years and Africa had not been spared from the so-called “funding winter.”

Specifically, WeeTracker Media noted in the 38-page document that early-stage startups had been disproportionately affected by the lower funding levels, and the share of early-stage investments in overall funding dropped from 31 per cent in 2021 to just nine per cent in 2024.

The authors noted, in particular, that commercial capital had left the early stages, leaving mostly accelerator and grant capital as the only option for early-stage founders.