New forecast shows Africa's startup investment fundraising could reach highest record of $5 billion before the end of 2021. If it happens, it will be higher than the fund raised in the previous three years combined.
So far, several African startups have recorded total foreign investment inflows of about $4.8 billion. And before the year ends, the figure could potentially hit $5 billion, according to a report by Briter Bridges Intelligence, a London-based research firm .
The significant amount of funding were made possible due to global venture capitals' strong interest in Africa's vibrant tech startup scene ---- specially the financial technology (fintech) sector. We are now seeing tech unicorn coming out of Africa and Nigeria, the most populous nation in the continent, is taking the lead. Nigerian based fintech startups, Flutterwave and Opay, are now have an evaluation of over $1 billion each.
Besides the fintechs, other innovative tech startups across sectors have come up with innovative tech solutions aimed at enabling education, agriculture, ecommerce, and transportation/logistics. In return, they have continued to attract the attention of foreign venture capitalists.
It has been a really good year for African startups. Despite COVID-19 pandemic's investment disruption globally and to everyone's surprise, African tech startups appear to show resilience and are in upward trajectory. And there are indicators that 2022 will even be better.