African startups and growth companies raised $224 million in July 2026, bringing total funding for the first seven months of the year to $1.66 billion.
Although July’s funding was below the $334 million recorded in June, debt financing dominated the month. Of the disclosed funding, $168.55 million, or 75.2%, came through debt, while equity contributed $55.51 million. Grants accounted for just $95,000.
A major factor behind the strong debt share was a $114 million loan approved by the African Development Bank for Gotion Power Morocco. The financing will support an integrated lithium iron phosphate battery plant in Morocco’s Rabat-Salé-Kénitra Free Trade Zone.
The first phase of the facility is expected to produce 10 gigawatt-hours of battery cells and packs annually for electric vehicles, with longer-term plans to increase capacity to 100 gigawatt-hours. The project is also expected to create more than 600 direct jobs and strengthen Morocco’s position in the global electric vehicle supply chain.
Electric mobility attracted further financing in Kenya, where M-KOPA Mobility secured a $30 million senior debt package from Dutch development bank FMO. The funding will support the company’s electric motorcycle and battery portfolio, highlighting the growing importance of affordable financing in Africa’s transition to electric transport.
South African online business lender Bridgement also raised $20.3 million from Rand Merchant Bank and Standard Bank. The funding will allow the company to expand lending to small and medium-sized businesses using financial and operational data to assess borrowers.
Meanwhile, BioLite secured a $10.7 million senior debt facility to distribute at least 163,500 improved cookstoves in Zambia. The financing will be repaid through future carbon-credit revenues, creating a structure that could potentially be replicated across other African climate projects.
Equity funding continued to support technology companies, although at much smaller levels. South African customer engagement company Cue raised $5 million, while Kenyan recruitment platform Fuzu secured $3.86 million in Series A funding.
The funding pattern highlights a broader shift in Africa’s startup ecosystem. Capital is increasingly flowing toward businesses with physical assets and predictable revenue streams, including battery factories, electric motorcycles, energy systems and lending portfolios.
Africa’s electric mobility sector is also developing into a wider infrastructure market involving local battery production, financing, charging networks and battery-swapping systems. These investments could help reduce the barriers to electric vehicle adoption while creating new industrial opportunities.
However, funding figures vary between tracking organisations because of differences in how debt, industrial financing and asset-backed transactions are classified. Some trackers exclude large industrial loans from startup funding totals, resulting in significantly lower estimates.
July’s figures therefore provide a mixed picture of Africa’s funding environment. Large infrastructure and energy projects continue to attract substantial debt financing from development banks and commercial lenders, while smaller startups still face a more challenging equity market.
The trend suggests that Africa’s funding landscape is increasingly rewarding companies capable of connecting technology with tangible assets, infrastructure and recurring revenue.
