African Startups Raise US$ 187 Million in May

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african-startups-raise-us$-187-million-in-may — African Startups Raise US$ 187 Million in May

The month of May saw a 40% increase in startup funding across Africa compared to April this year, according to the latest figures from Africa: The Big Deal.

African startups raised US$ 187 million in May, compared to US$ 75 million that was raised in April. 64 startups were able to raise more than US$ 100,000 with 17 of them scoring more than US$ 1 million in funding. Although funding has substantially declined compared to 2022 and early 2023, the figures from May this year are the second-highest over the last six months – only dwarfing figures from February this year. “Since the beginning of the year, US$ 729 million have been announced in funding (excluding exits), a total still lagging behind previous periods: US$ 1.7 billion in Jan – May 2023, US$ 2.7 billion in Jan – May 2022, and US$ 1.1 billion in Jan – May 2021,” the report mentions.

Between January and May this year, 90 ventures have raised about US$ 1 million. The same period last year registered 95 ventures that achieved a similar fete. However, 2022 outweighs both years after more than 200 ventures raised more than US$ 1 million.

Climate-related ventures dominated this year’s January to May figures, representing 44% of the total funding. This is a consistent rise from 2023’s figure of the same period which stood at 32%. Debt financing represented 35% of the Jan-May period this year, a slight fall from the same period last year which stood at 38%.

“The total funding announced last month was split between 4% in grants, 31% in equity, and 65% in debt,” Africa: The Big Deal reported.

Startups that won debt funding last month include M-KOPA which inked a deal that would inject US$ 51 million from the DFC and e-mobility startup ‘Spiro’ that gained US$ 50 million from Afreximbank.

Three startups saw successful exits last month. Payment platform ‘Adumo’ was acquired by NASDAQ-listed fintech firm ‘Lesaka Technologies’ in a tune of US$ 85 million. Other startups that were acquired by larger firms last month include Brass from Nigeria and Ratality from South Africa.