In 2025, Africa’s startup funding landscape retained familiar sector rankings even as the overall market structure continued to evolve.
After declining from $3 billion in 2023 to $2.2 billion in 2024, total funding rebounded to $3.2 billion in 2025.
Report by Africa: The Big Deal, revealed that Fintech remained the leading sector by total capital raised but did not significantly expand its base. The sector secured $1.2 billion in 2025, up slightly from $1.1 billion in 2024, across 124 companies, fewer than the previous year.
The five largest fintech fundraisers M-KOPA, Wave, MNT-Halan, Moniepoint, and ValU, accounted for $607 million, representing 52 percent of the sector total, compared with 58 percent in 2024 and 66 percent in 2023.
Equity financing remained the primary funding mechanism for fintech at $685 million, but debt financing played a substantial role at $467 million, helping sustain the sector’s overall performance despite fewer funded companies.
Large facilities such as Wave’s $137 million debt raise and MNT-Halan’s bond issuance significantly influenced sector totals. On the exit front, 2025 recorded 49 exits across all sectors, up from 22 in 2024, with fintech accounting for 19 of those exits.
Energy emerged as the sector where the market’s shape shifted most noticeably. The sector raised $857 million across 50 companies, rebounding sharply from $445 million in 2024 and returning close to its 2023 level of $792 million.
However, concentration intensified, with the five largest energy companies accounting for $701 million, or 82 percent of total sector funding, up from 79 percent in 2024 and 75 percent in 2023.
Debt financing was the primary driver of both growth and concentration in energy, accounting for $611 million, 71 percent of the sector’s total funding. Large deals from d.light ($300 million), Sun King ($156 million), and BURN ($80 million) underscored how a small number of sizeable facilities can significantly shape sector performance.
This dynamic has made energy structurally distinct from other sectors, with large debt-driven transactions disproportionately influencing totals.
Beyond fintech and energy, other sectors recorded lower funding totals but broader participation. Logistics and Transport raised $309 million across 63 companies, with 87 percent of funding coming through equity.
Healthcare secured $211 million across 49 companies, also largely equity-led, although a single major round by LXE Hearing accounted for roughly 47 percent of the sector’s total funding. Agriculture and Food raised $122 million but demonstrated notable breadth with 62 funded companies.
Climate Tech continued to stand out as a cross-sector theme rather than a standalone category, spanning industries such as energy, agriculture, and logistics. In 2025, Climate Tech companies raised $1.2 billion across 149 companies, representing 38 percent of total funding for the year.
This compares with $761 million (34 percent) in 2024 and $1.1 billion (38 percent) in 2023. Participation in Climate Tech has also steadily expanded. The segment accounted for 29 percent of funded companies in 2025, up from 28 percent in 2024 and 26 percent in 2023.
This marks a notable shift from 2021–2022 levels, when Climate Tech represented approximately 18–20 percent of funded startups, positioning it as one of the few investment themes combining large capital inflows with increasing market breadth.
Looking ahead, Africa’s funding landscape is likely to remain shaped by large, structured deals rather than broad-based early-stage expansion.
The continued prominence of debt financing particularly in capital-intensive sectors such as energy and infrastructure, suggests investors are prioritizing scalable, asset-backed models with clearer revenue visibility.
Fintech is expected to maintain its leadership position, but growth may depend more on consolidation, infrastructure expansion, and profitability milestones than on rapid startup proliferation.
Notably, energy and climate-aligned investments are poised to attract sustained institutional interest as governments and development partners intensify efforts around electrification, industrial resilience, and sustainability.
Overall, the market trajectory points toward deeper capital concentration, greater reliance on blended finance structures, and increased investor selectivity trends that could strengthen mature ventures while making capital access more competitive for early-stage startups.
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