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AFRICA'S TOP 10 FUNDING ROUNDS: 2015 TO 2019

Feb 21, 2020

As investment in  African tech continues to grow YoY, we reflect on previous performances to take note of its trends and patterns. According to Digest Africa data dating back as far as 2015, over $4.1 billion in a mixture of funding has been collected by African startups across 1311 deals (2015 - $254.7M, 2016 - $ 734.1M, 2017 - $439.1M, 2018 - $1.059B and 2019 - $1.694B.) Impressively so, there has been an 85% increase in what was raised in 2015 VS 2019, making it Africa’s most monumental year yet. 

To appreciate how far the continent has grown in attracting funds and surpassing the billion mark, we should firstly capture how each year played a role. Below, we spotlight the Top 10 Deals from 2015 - 2019 that are attributed to the annual amounts raised when it comes to venture funding. These are immensely significant as they collectively raised $1.79B (43.2% of what the entire continent has raised in the last 5 years.)

2015

Key Takeaways

  • In total, $130.1M was raised from these 10 deals by 10 different startups, 51.1% of 1.he total funding raised all year.
  • All deals amount to $2.6M+
  • Majority raised in Series C ($78.5M from 3 rounds) and in Series B ($21M from 3 rounds.)
  • All listed startups had raised prior to these rounds.
  • Konga and One Africa Media were both acquired by Zinox Technologies and Ringier while DealDey Ltd shut down operations in 2018.
Top Funding Rounds 2015
STARTUP Amount Raised Round Investors
1. Konga $41M Series C Naspers Ventures
2.Zola Electric $25M Series C DBL Investors | Western Technology Investment | Vulcan Capital | Serious Change | Omidyar Network | Energy Access Ventures and Aster
3. Andela $14M Series A Spark Capital | GV | IFC | Susa Ventures | PlayFair Capital | GSV Acceleration | Arena Ventures | CRE Venture Capital | Golden Palm Investments and Future Perfect Ventures.
4. Paga $13M Series B Omidyar Network | Goodwell Investments | Capricorn Investment Group and Adlevo Capital
5. M-Kopa $12.5M Series C LocalGlobe | Blue Haven Initiative | LGT Venture Philanthropy and Lundin Foundation.
6. One Africa Media $10M Pre-Series B Seek
7. DealDey Ltd $5M Series B Rocket Internet and Kinnevik AB.
8. Copia Global $4M Seed II DOB Equity
9. BBOXX $3M Series B Bamboo Finance | DOEN Participaties | MacKinnon Bennett & Co.
10. Africa Courier Express $2.6M Seed Savannah Fund | Interswitch | CRE Venture Capital

2016

Key Takeaways

  • Total funding raised by all listed startups is $584.6M across 10 rounds (80% of the total funding for the year.)
  • All deals are $11.5M+
  • Majority raised in a Series A ($83.5M from 3 rounds) followed by Series B ($50.5M from 3 rounds) although the highest amount was raised in 2 Series C rounds valued at $420M.
  • All but Travelstart raised prior to 2016.
  • Jumia went public in 2019 and was listed on the NYSE.
Top Funding Rounds 2016
STARTUP Amount Raised Round Investors
1. Jumia $400M Series C Rocket Internet | MTN Group | Orange | Goldman Sachs | CDC Group | AXA Group
2.Travelstart $40M Series A Amadeus Capital Partners | MTN Group
3. Andela $24M Series B Chan Zuckerberg Initiative | Spark Capital | Social Impact Capital | Omidyar Network | Learn Capital | GV | GSV Acceleration | Flat World Partners | Battery Road Digital Holdings.
4. African Leadership Academy $23.5M Series A Undisclosed
5. BBOXX $20M Series C Bamboo Finance | DOEN Foundation | ENGIE | KawiSafi Ventures | Khosla Impact | MacKinnon | Bennett & Co.
6. Powerhive $20M Series A Caterpillar Ventures | Prelude Ventures | Total Energy Ventures | Tao Capital Partners | Pi Investments.
7. IROKO TV $19M Series E Kinnevik AB | Canal+
8. Zoona $15M Series B IFC | 4Di Capital | Omidyar Network | Quona Capital | Patrick Pichette
9. M-Kopa $11.6M Series D CDC Group
10. Afrimarket $11.5M Series B Global Innovation Fund | Jacques Antoine Granjon | Kima Ventures | Olivier Mathiot | Orange | PROPARCO

2017

Key Takeaways

  • 10 different startups raised in 10 rounds to the tune of $174.8M (40% of the total funding of the year.
  • All deals amount to $5M+
  • Majority raised in Series A ($45.3M from 6 rounds) although higher amounts were raised in 1 Corporate ($69M) and Series C round ($40M.)
  • All listed startups had raised prior to these rounds except Cars45.
  • Twiga Foods and Flutterwave raised twice in the same year.
  • Takealot was acquired by Naspers.
Top Funding Rounds 2017
STARTUP Amount Raised Round Investors
1. Takealot $69M Corporate Naspers
2. Andela $40M Series C CRE Venture Capital | TLcom Capital | Salesforce Ventures | Golden Palm Investments
3. PEG Africa $13.5M Series B EAV | Investisseurs & Partenaires | ENGIE | Acumen | PCG Investments
4. Twiga Foods $10.3M Series A Omidyar Network | 1776 Ventures | Wamda Capital | DOB Equity | Blue Haven Initiative
5. Flutterwave $10M Series A Y Combinator | Plug and Play | Greycroft | Glynn Capital Management
6. M-Kopa $7M Series D II CDC Group
7. AllLife $6.7M Series A LeapFrog Investments | Quona Capital
8. AZA Group $6.7M Series A Greycroft | Plug And Play
9. mPharma $6.6M Series A 4DX Ventures | Breyer Capital | Social Capital | Golden Palm Investments | Shravin Bharti Mittal
10. Cars45 $5M Series A New Enterprise Associates | Balderton Capital | TPG Growth | EchoVC Partners | Frontier Car Group

2018

Key Takeaways

  • $354.7M raised in total across 10 deals by 8 different startups which is 33.5% of the total funding of the year.
  • All deals amount to $20M+
  • Majority raised in Debt Finance ($143.5M from 4 rounds).
  • All listed startups had raised prior to these rounds except iSON Xperiences and Golix.
Top Funding Rounds 2018
STARTUP Amount Raised Round Investors
1. Jumia $84.4M Corporate Pernod Ricard
2. Zola Electric $55M Series D Helios Investment Partners | GE Ventures | Total Energy Ventures | Tesla | EDF | DBL Partners
3. Jumo $52M Series B Goldman Sachs | Proparco | Finnfund | Vostok Emerging Finance | Gemcorp Capital | LeapFrog Investments
4. Cellulant $47.5M Series C The Rise Fund | Satya Capital | Endeavor Catalyst | Velocity Capital | Progression Africa
5. African Leadership Academy $30.8M Series B Anders Holch Povlsen | Omidyar Network
6. Swvl $30M Series B BECO Capital | Raed Ventures | Silicon Badia | Arzan Venture Capital
7. Yoco $16M Series B Partech Partners | Orange Digital Ventures | FMO | Futuregrowth Asset Management | Quona Capital | Velocity Capital
8. MFS Africa $14M Series B LUN Partners Group | Goodwell Investments | FSD Africa | Equator Capital Partners
9. Migo $13M Series A The Rise Fund | Velocity Capital | First Ally Capital | Nyca Partners | Singularity Investments | Trans-Sahara Investments Corporation | Western Technology Investment | XSeed Capital Partners
10. Vezeeta $12.5M Series C STV | Silicon Badia | BECO Capital | Vostok New Ventures | Crescent Enterprise Venture Capital

2019

Key Takeaways

  • In total, $530.45M was raised from these 10 deals by 9 different startups, 31.3% of the total funding raised all year.
  • All deals amount to $21M+
  • Majority raised in Series C ($86.75M from 3 rounds) and in a Series A ($133.7M from 3 rounds.)
Top Funding Rounds 2019
STARTUP Amount Raised Round Investors
1. OPay $120M Series B Meituan-Dianping | Gaorong Capital | GSR Ventures | Source Code Capital | SoftBank Ventures Asia | BAI | Redpoint Ventures China | IDG Capital | Sequoia Capital China | GSR Ventures
2. Andela $100M Series D Generation Investment Management | Chan Zuckerberg Initiative | GV | Spark Capital | CRE Venture Capital
3. BBOXX $50M Series D Mitsubishi Corporation | Bamboo Capital Partners | Doen Participaties | MacKinnon-Bennett & Company | ENGIE
4. OPay $50M Series A GSR Ventures | IDG Capital | Meituan-Dianping | Opera | Source Code Capital | Sequoia Capital China
5. CarePay $45M Series A PharmAccess Group | ELMA Investments
6. SWVL $42M Series C Vostok New Ventures | BECO Capital | Endeavor Catalyst | OTF Jasoor Venture | Sawari Ventures | DASH Ventures
7. PalmPay $40M Seed Transsion | NetEase | MediaTek
8. Lori Systems $38.7M Series A Hillhouse Capital | Crystal Stream | Apoletto Asia | EchoVC Partners | Timon Capital | Raba Partnership | Endeavor Catalyst
9. Twiga Foods $23.75M Series C Goldman Sachs | IFC | TLcom Capital Partners | Creadev
10. Jiji $21M Series C Knuru Capital

If you are interested in accessing the data behind this research brief and require further insights and intelligence on the African startup ecosystem, you can download the data by subscribing here or contact us for custom requests.

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