African start‑ups raised $803 million in the first quarter of 2025 from 163 deals, according to Africa: The Big Deal.
The data insight, which tracks funding of $100,000 and above, noted that this is a 43 percent rise (excluding exits), from the $563 million raised in the same period of 2024.
The funding tracker noted that April alone contributed $343 million, underscoring a robust rebound and growing investor confidence in the continent’s startup ecosystem.
April’s $343 million raise, spread across 39 start‑ups, represents a 4.5‑fold increase on April 2024 and stands only behind the record $356 million raised in April 2022. The month featured the first “mega‑deal” of 2025: South African healthtech hearX’s $100 million merger with U.S.‑based Eargo.
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Egypt’s Islamic fintech platform Bokra raised $59 million via a sukuk issuance, just a year after its $4.6 million pre‑seed round, while South African payments infrastructure venture Stitch secured $55 million from existing backers to accelerate its end‑to‑end payment solutions.
On the exit front, at least four deals closed, including fintech exits, Egypt’s ADVA was acquired by UAE-based Maseera, Nigeria’s Bankly was bought by C-One Ventures, and South Africa’s Peach Payments snapped up PayDunya to expand into Francophone West Africa.
The insight firm highlighted that since early 2024, African‑focused VC funds have closed at least $1.3 billion in new commitments from Janngo Capital’s gender‑focused fund to Airnergie Capital, Verod‑Kepple Africa Ventures, Saviu’s Francophone‑Africa Fund II, and LoftyInc Capital as the ecosystem’s recovery gains depth.
