In 2018, Kenyan technology startups secured $348 million (~KSh35 billion) in funding, the highest amount among African countries. This is according to Partech Africa report which focused on start-ups whose primary markets are in Africa with investments ranging between $200,000 and $100 million.
The report showed that investments into African tech start-ups grew from $560 million in 2017 to $1.16 billion in 2018, an improvement of 108 percent. Additionally, more African nations got tech funding compared to the previous year. Countries that received the highest funds are Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa which collectively took $904 million (~KSh91billion) worth of investments, equivalent to 78 percent of the total funding in Africa.
Kenyan signed over 44 investment deals in the tech sector in 2018 up from 25 deals in 2017. Most investments went into fintech companies showing the rise of financial technology businesses in the country. Some of the companies that received the highest amount of funds are; Tala, Cellulant, Dlight, Branch, Twiga Foods, M-Kopa, Africa’s Talking, Lori Systems, Mobius, Bitpesa, and Wefarm. All the listed firms each received $5 million (KSh505 million) or more from investors.
Nigeria and South Africa each bagged investments worth $306 million (KSh30.9 billion) and $250 million (KSh25 billion) respectively. Just like in Kenya, most of the funds raised in the two countries went into fintech start-ups.
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