The number of jobs created by funded African tech startups almost doubled in 2022, when the 633 funded ventures employed between them over 34,000 people.
This is according to the eighth edition of the annual African Tech Startups Funding Report released by startup news and research portal Disrupt Africa, which is available free to all as part of an open-sourcing initiative in partnership with Flat6Labs, MarketForce, 4Di Capital, Mercy Corps Ventures, Newtown Partners, and InsiderPR.
The report tells the story of an impressive 2022 in which more startups raised more funding than ever before, in spite of a global downturn in investments. In all, 633 startups raised a combined US$3,333,071,000 in 2022. This represented incredible growth. The number of funded startups increased by 12.2 per cent from 564 in 2021, while the total secured funding jumped 55.1 per cent from US$2,148,517,500 in 2021.
The African tech startup ecosystem is increasingly a major employer, with the number of jobs created by funded ventures in 2022 almost doubling from 2021, in spite of the fact the number of investments made increased by little more than 10 per cent.
The 633 African tech startups funded in 2022 employed between them 34,201 people, an average of 54 per startup, at the time of their first raise of the year. This compares to 2021, when the 564 African tech startups funded employed a combined 17,915 people, an average of 32 per company.
Egypt was the largest employer, with the 131 funded startups employing 11,153 people between them. Kenya was second, with 91 startups employing people, and Nigeria, with more funded startups than anyone else with 180, came third with 6,751 jobs created. Lagging further back were South Africa (2,691), Tunisia (993), Ghana (872) and Morocco (261).
For more information, or to download the report, please visit disrupt-africa.com/funding-report, or email Gabriella on gabriella@disrupt-africa.com, or Tom on tom@disrupt-africa.com.
