African tech startups raised US$649,303,000 between January 1 and March 31 this year, down 57.2 per cent on the total from the corresponding period in 2022, as the sector begins to feel the bite from the global economic climate.
According to the most recent edition of the annual African Tech Startups Funding Report released by Disrupt Africa, available free in partnership with Flat6Labs, MarketForce, 4Di Capital, Mercy Corps Ventures, Newtown Partners, and InsiderPR, 633 African tech 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 on 564 in 2021, while the total secured funding jumped 55.1 per cent on US$2,148,517,500 in 2021.
This year looks set to be a regressive one, however, as so far only 87 startups have secured funding, less than half the number (175) that had done so by this time last year. And those startups have between them taken in a combined US$649,303,000, down from US$1,515,556,000 by April 1, 2022.
Last year’s Q1 ended up accounting for around half the startups and half the total investment for the whole of 2022, so if the current trajectory holds then year-on-year funding looks set to decline by more than 50 per cent.
