Said El Mansour Cherkaoui – Updated on 1/3/2021

“Startup in Africa ”

Dr. Said El Mansour Cherkaoui – January 3, 2022

What Do You Think? • October 10, 2014

Africa is a diverse continent, with an estimated 1,500 languages grouped into six linguistic families.

Projection by:

https://www.accenture.com/sitecollectiondocuments/local_south_africa/pdf/accenture-the-dynamic-african-consumer-market-exploring-growth-opportunities-in-sub-saharan-africa.pdf

Realities in 9/18/2025

In 2010, sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) was populated by more than 856 million consumers. The region will have more than 1.3 billion consumers by 2030.
The most populous country in SSA is Nigeria, with a population of 151 million, while the smallest, Seychelles, has just 100,000 people.
While the global economy is predicted to grow by two percent to three percent between 2011 and 2020, SSA is poised to grow by five percent to six percent, making it one of the world’s fastest-growing regions.
African countries received $72 billion in foreign direct investment in 2008, which is five times the amount received in 2000. While lower than China’s investments ($92.4 billion), this amount exceeds that received by other emerging markets such as Brazil ($45.1 billion).
Consumer expenditure in SSA equaled nearly $600 billion in 2010, accounting for almost eight percent of all emerging-market spending, and is expected to reach nearly $1 trillion by 2020.
Consumer spending in South Africa and Nigeria accounts for 51 percent of SSA’s total expenditure.
Poverty in SSA is decreasing rapidly—from 40 percent in 1980 to less than 30 percent in 2008—and is expected to fall to 20 percent by 2020.
By 2050, almost 60 percent of people in SSA will live in cities, compared with 40 percent in 2010. This means 800 million more people will live in urban environments.
By 2012, over 50 percent of all Africans—or more than 500 million people—will own a mobile phone. By 2014, this portion is expected to increase to 56 percent (more than 600 million people), giving Africa one of the world’s highest mobile usage rates.

StartupBlink Ecosystem Index Report 2021

This is according to the recently released StartupBlink Ecosystem Index Report 2021, a global startup ecosystem map with tens of thousands of registered startups, co-working spaces, and accelerators. By evaluating innovation ecosystems in 100 countries and 1,000 cities globally, StartupBlink ranks locations according to the quantity and quality of start-ups and supporting organisations and factors related to their business environment, including ease of doing business and investment.

Within Africa, the report showed that Central Africa had no representation in the rankings, while Eastern Africa grew from 4 to 6 countries in the global top 100.

South Africa has the most developed startup ecosystem in Africa, ahead of Kenya, Nigeria, and Rwanda.

Southern Africa had a good year; not only did South Africa join the global top 50 this year, but a second Southern African country (Namibia) joined the rankings.

Northern Africa kept its three representatives in the global top 100, yet two of the three nations (Tunisia and Morocco) declined in rank.

Finally, Western Africa had a good year, where all ranked countries (Nigeria, Ghana, and Cape Verde) improved their rankings. To sum up, results are quite diverse across the sub-regions of the African continent.

For the first time since this report was published, an African country (South Africa) made it to the top 50.
There was also a notable increase in Africa as Nigeria moved up five spots to now rank 63rd globally.
Egypt moved up 11 spots to rank 70th

The Nigerian city of Lagos has become the top African startup ecosystem, ranked 122nd after switching places with Nairobi, Kenya, which now ranks 136th.
For the first time in the ranking, and completing the top 100, Namibia is ranked 99th, and the vibrant seed ecosystem of Ethiopia is ranked 100th globally.

Below are the Top 5 African countries with the most developed startup ecosystems according to the recently released StartupBlink Ecosystem Index Report 2021.

Funding Start-ups in Africa

SHOW ME THE MONEY

More than $4bn of funding has been raised by start-ups in Africa through 754 deals $100k & over this year!

Nigeria Unicorn Capital and Egypt Powerhouse

In November 2019, three fintech companies, Interswitch, OPay and PalmPay, raised a cumulative $360 million from American and Chinese investors. That announced Nigeria as Africa’s unofficial capital for fintech investment and digital finance startups.

Fintech opportunity in Nigeria is the largest on the continent. With over 40% of Nigerian adults having bank accounts and digital payments hitting more than $250 billion in 2019, it’s no surprise that the startups facilitating transactions for the unbanked (OPay) and providing gateways (Interswitch and Flutterwave) are now worth more than $1 billion.

The three companies, including Andela, started operations in Nigeria’s commercial city, Lagos, earning Nigeria the status of Africa’s unicorn capital in 2021.

For a long time, Nigeria has been one of the three countries that receive the bulk of local and international venture capital, including Kenya and South Africa. The three countries present Africa’s most connected populace and growing economy; the perfect environment to attract foreign capital before others.

But then Egypt stepped into the picture in 2017, and with time, the North African country became part of the “Big Four” as the country began attracting venture capital eyeballs. And after quietly spending the last couple of years at the rear, Egypt picked up impressively in 2020 and this year surpassed Kenya to become the region’s third most active investment region.

As this report aptly put: “Seemingly from nowhere, Egypt is suddenly on the radar as a key African startup funding destination, highlighting the prospects for continental growth of the nascent sector.”

Egypt also has bragging rights in producing the first SPAC deal on the continent. In July, Cairo and Dubai-based ridesharing company Swvl announced that it was going public via a merger with Queen’s Gambit Growth Capital. It’s a deal that will value Swvl, one of the country’s success stories, at almost $1.5 billion once completed.

With a large population and impressive GDP per capita, the North African country raised almost $600 million this year. While it’s less than what Nigeria and South Africa raised at over $1.4 billion and $830 million, respectively, some observers predict that Egypt will surpass South Africa by next year if it keeps up with its pace.

There are a few reasons behind this thinking. In Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya, fintech is the sector that receives the most funding. The major sector is e-commerce and retail in Egypt, but the country is a hot spot for fintech, too, evident in holding the highest pre-seed rounds in both categories (Rabbit’s $11 million and Telda’s $5 million rounds).

Source: https://techcrunch.com/2021/12/30/african-tech-took-center-stage-in-2021/

Most of you won’t be too surprised to find the “Big Four” usual suspects (Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt and Kenya) dominate the charts with 80% of the total raised on the continent so far this year (35% for Nigeria alone!). Next in terms of total amount raised are Senegal ($222m) and Tanzania ($96m), with a very big difference compared to the Big Four though: in both cases a single deal represents more than 90% of the total raised this year (Wave and Zola Electric). With 18 and 5 $100k+ deals respectively, they are far behind the Big Four: Nigeria boasts 200+ deals; the other three 100+ deals each.

Eight countries on top of Tanzania have seen between $10m and $100m raised in 2021TD, with strong disparities though: for instance, start-ups in Ghana have raised close to 40 deals this year so far, while the $30m raised in Algeria come from one single deal (announced yesterday). You then have an extra nine countries with $1m to $10m raised, followed by a final seven with less than $1m raised, often through one single deal – except in Zimbabwe (6 deals) and Botswana (2).

Finally, it is worth noting that despite initially allocating Chipper Cash’s $100m + $150m = $250m to Ghana, we have decided not to pin them to a specific country as its Ghanaian and Ugandan co-founders and its African HQs split between Ghana and Kenya make it quite pan-African, which is probably an interesting trend to watch in itself…

Africa Africa News Africa Trade Africa Integration Contact

AFRICA, ENTREPRENEURSHIP, FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT IN AFRICA, MOROCCO, STARTUP TECH

Source: When they realized that they get wrong, all they do these Smart International Consulting Firms, they move a very “Smart Move” they just basically erase the content of the link of their wrong studies and projections.

Venture Capital and African Startups 2024-2025

A – KINGDOM OF MOROCCO STARTUP GUIDE 2024 Download

DECODING VENTURE INVESTMENTS IN AFRICA – WTFA_Annual-VC-Report-2024 Download

African Startups in 100 World Ranking 2025

(Ecofin Agency) – South Africa remains the country with the most favorable ecosystem for startup development in Africa, ahead of Kenya, Egypt, and Nigeria. Lagos and Cairo are the only African cities to feature in the Top 100 “startup-friendly” cities worldwide.

Thirteen African countries are among the world’s top 100 best startup ecosystems, according to a report published Wednesday, May 21, by StartupBlink.

To establish this ranking, the research firm, which specializes in analyzing startup ecosystems worldwide, uses 33 indicators divided into three broad categories: quantity (number of startups, coworking spaces, accelerators, number of startup-specific meetings, etc.); quality (total investments in startups, number and size of unicorns, presence of research and development centers established by large international technology companies, presence of subsidiaries of multinationals, number of startups supported by world-renowned accelerators, total number of startup employees, etc.); and the business environment (internet connection speed, internet connection cost, research and development spending, internet freedoms, tax rates applied to startups, availability of various technology services such as electronic payments and cryptocurrencies, level of corruption, etc.).

Entitled “Global Startup Ecosystem Index 2025,” this ranking reveals that South Africa (52nd place globally) has maintained its position as the African country with the best startup system in Africa.

Kenya (ranked 58th worldwide) ranks second in Africa, gaining five places compared to the 2024 edition of the ranking. This is followed by Egypt (ranked 65th worldwide), Nigeria (66th), Cape Verde (75th), Ghana (81st), Tunisia (82nd), Namibia (85th), and Morocco (88th). Senegal (ranked 92nd worldwide) rounds out the African Top 10, ahead of Uganda (94th), Rwanda (96th), and Somalia (100th).

In total, ten countries on the continent improved their ranking compared to the previous edition, while two declined (Senegal and Nigeria), and only one maintained its position (South Africa). The largest gains were recorded by Tunisia (+8 ranks), Ghana (+7), Kenya (+5), and Morocco (+4).

StartupBlink also ranked startup ecosystems in 1,000 cities worldwide. Only Lagos (ranked 76th globally) and Cairo (ranked 90th globally) made the Top 100, thanks to their vibrant ecosystems, which include several unicorns (startups valued at over $1 billion), a high number of thriving startups, and major incubators and accelerators.

Walid Kéfi

African startup ecosystems ranked in the global Top 100 in 2025:

1-South Africa (52nd worldwide)
2-Kenya (58th)
3-Egypt (65th)
4-Nigeria (66th)
5-Cape Verde (75th)
6-Ghana (81st)
7-Tunisia (82nd)
8-Namibia (85th)
9-Morocco (88th)
10-Senegal (92nd)
11-Uganda (94th)
12-Rwanda (96th)
13-Somalia (100th)

(Agence Ecofin) – L’Afrique du Sud reste le pays qui dispose de l’écosystème le plus propice au développement des start-up en Afrique, devant le Kenya, l’Egypte et le Nigeria. Lagos et le Caire sont, quant à elles, les seules cités africaines qui figurent dans le Top 100 des villes « start-up friendly » à l’échelle mondiale.

Treize pays africains figurent dans le Top 100 mondial des meilleurs écosystèmes de start-up, selon un rapport publié le mercredi 21 mai par le cabinet StartupBlink.

Pour établir ce classement, le cabinet de recherche spécialisé dans l’analyse des écosystèmes des start-up dans le monde se base sur 33 indicateurs répartis sur trois grandes catégories : la quantité (nombre de start-up, espaces de coworking, accélérateurs, nombre de rencontres dédiées aux start-up, etc.) ; la qualité (total des investissements dans les jeunes pousses, nombre et taille des licornes, présence de centres de recherche & développement implantés par de grandes entreprises technologiques internationales, présence de filiales des multinationales, nombre de start-up soutenues par des accélérateurs de renommée mondiale, nombre total d’employés dans les start-up, etc.) ; et l’environnement des affaires (vitesse de la connexion à Internet, coût de la connexion à Internet, dépenses en recherche & développement, libertés d’Internet, taux de taxation appliqué aux jeunes pousses, disponibilité de divers services technologiques comme le paiement électronique et les cryptomonnaies, niveau de corruption, etc.).

Intitulé « Global Startup Ecosystem Index 2025 », ce classement révèle que l’Afrique du Sud (52^e position à l’échelle mondiale) a conservé son rang de pays africain qui dispose du meilleur système de start-up à l’échelle africaine.

Le Kenya (58^e rang mondial) arrive en 2^e position en Afrique, grâce à un gain de 5 places par rapport à l’édition 2024 du classement. Viennent ensuite l’Egypte (65^e rang mondial), le Nigeria (66^e), le Cap-Vert (75^e), le Ghana (81^e), la Tunisie (82^e), la Namibie (85^e), le Maroc (88^e). Le Sénégal (92^e rang mondial) ferme le Top 10 africain et devance l’Ouganda (94^e), le Rwanda (96^e) et la Somalie (100^e).

Au total, dix pays du continent sont parvenus à améliorer leur rang par rapport à l’édition précédente, tandis que deux ont régressé (le Sénégal et le Nigeria) et un seul a conservé sa position (l’Afrique du Sud). Les plus fortes progressions ont été enregistrées par la Tunisie (+8 rangs), le Ghana (+7), le Kenya (+5) et le Maroc (+4).

StartupBlink a par ailleurs classé les écosystèmes de start-up dans 1000 villes à travers le monde. Seules les villes de Lagos (76^e rang mondial) et le Caire (90^e rang mondial) sont présentes dans le Top 100, grâce à leurs écosystèmes dynamiques qui comptent plusieurs licornes (start-up valorisées à plus d’un milliard de dollars), un nombre élevé de jeunes pousses florissantes ainsi que d’importants incubateurs et accélérateurs.

Walid Kéfi

Les écosystèmes de start-up africains figurant dans le Top 100 mondial en 2025 :