Here are Africa’s biggest startups based on valuation

Summary

Last year, funding into African startups edged past $2 billion, returning to pre-pandemic levels and presenting a mixed bag as expected. Signs suggest 2025 will follow the cautious trends of the past two years. A sharp decline in mega-deals, mirroring global venture capital tightening since the boom of 2020-2021, pushed local and international investors to prioritize sustainable business models and clear paths to profitability. This shift spelled trouble for well-funded startups that fell short of these criteria, leading to high-profile closures, including mobile commerce platform Copia and agri-focused data analytics firm Gro Intelligence. Notably, both startups had raised over $100 million in venture funding, with Gro Intelligence reaching a valuation of $850 million at its last priced round. While startup failures in Africa were once largely confined to pre-seed and Series A stages, these closures, including that of Ghanaian fintech Dash and Nigerian biotech 54gene in 2023, signal an ecosystem at a turning point, where even growth-stage and late-stage startups face mounting risks. Some, instead of succumbing to the pressures of 2024, opted for strategic pivots rather than closures. B2B e-commerce giants Wasoko and MaxAB, for instance, merged operations to conserve cash and streamline resources, leveraging shared industry experience to weather the storm. Meanwhile, the likes of Moniepoint, Moove, and TymeBank thrived as they drew attention with notable investments from Uber, Google, and Nubank, respectively, buoyed by strong growth metrics and profitability. These developments show the dual realities of Africa’s post-boom tech landscape: escalating challenges and resilient adaptations. In this environment, these unicorns and soonicorns remained in the spotlight as they always have. Their successes and struggles not only underscore the continent’s enormous potential, but also shape conversations about the future of its tech ecosystem. Against this backdrop, it’s an...