According to a report carried out by Startuplist Africa, Kenya came out ahead of Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt and Ghana in 2020 when it came in to successfully attracting investments for startups in the country.
The report by the platform which provides data driven insights into the Ecosystem of African Startups, based its discovery on the publicly disclosed deals involving African Startups that operate within the continent of Africa. This also included African Startups that do not have their Headquarters in Africa. It did not however include acquisitions and mergers.
Kenya came out as Africa’s top destination for investments and attracted a sum of 266 million dollars for its startups. The report by Startuplist Africa revealed that the figure was a 114 million dollar increase in investments compared to what was achieved in 2019.
The major sectors which were beneficiaries of these investments, were logistics sector, the Agritech sector and the Renewable Energy sector. The number one funded Startup according to the Startuplist Africa report, was Greenlight Planet which secured 90 million dollars. Greenlight Planet creates, finances, and distributes Sun King solar home energy solutions to businesses and households who do not have access to the National grid or cannot depend on the national grid.
The East African nation of Nigeria came in second after securing 237 million dollars in investments. The Startuplist Africa report, however revealed that the figure was a significant reduction when compared to what was attained in 2019 when startups in Nigeria achieved 640 million dollars in investments.
Interestingly enough, the startup which secured the most investments in Nigeria, also focuses on providing clean energy solutions to businesses and homes by providing solar power.
South Africa came in third after securing more than 19 percent of the total share of investments on the continent. The most funded startup in South Africa was Jumo which is a technology platform that partners with mobile network operators and banks in a bid to build financial solutions and services.
South Africa according to the Startuplist Africa report saw an increase of 91 million dollars in investments as well, compared to its investments inflow in 2019.
Egypt which is right now one of the fastest growing startup ecosystems in Africa, was 4th with startups in the transport and logistics sectors securing the highest investments.
Vezeeta which is a digital healthcare startup secured the most money followed closely by SWVL which is a Bus Booking Application and the premium alternative to public transportation, and also has operations in Kenya. SWVL let’s users book fixed rate affordable rides on their existing routes.
Ghana was the 5th top investment destination in Africa, with a total of 90 million dollars in the year under review. Chipper Cash secured over 44 million dollars and had the Founder, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and President of the multi-national technology company Amazon; Jeff Bezos as one of its investors.
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