Start-ups across Africa raised approximately US$1.36bn in the first half of 2026 through transactions of at least US$100k, including equity, debt and grants but excluding exits. This was broadly in line with the US$1.44bn raised in H1 2025, representing a modest -6% year-on-year decline. The apparent stability is noteworthy after the recovery recorded in 2025, when annual funding increased by 40% following two consecutive years of contraction.
In total, approximately US$900m was raised as equity and US$450m as debt, resulting in a 66%–33% split, with grants accounting for the remainder. Equity was down only slightly compared to H1 2025, while debt remained almost unchanged. This continues a longer-term shift towards debt financing, though the first half of 2026 was in fact more equity-heavy than H2 2025, when debt represented 42% of all funding.
However, the headline figures mask a more uneven performance. Funding was tracking considerably below the previous year until an exceptional month of June transformed the half-year result. Meanwhile, the number of ventures raising capital fell sharply, investor participation declined, and an increasing share of the money went to a small group of large companies.
June – and Spiro – rescue the semester
At the end of May, African start-ups had raised only US$843m in 2026, -21% compared with the same period in 2025. Equity funding was performing even more poorly, down -48% YoY. June then delivered US$515m across 48 ventures, the strongest monthly total since July 2025 and the second highest since early 2023.
Approximately US$468m, or 91% of June’s funding, was equity. This was more equity capital than had been raised during the previous five months combined and the highest monthly equity total recorded since March 2022, during the peak of the continent’s funding “heatwave”. The principal driver was electric-mobility company Spiro, which first announced a US$215m equity transaction and subsequently added US$55m, taking the round to US$270m.[4] Together with earlier debt transactions, the company raised approximately US$327m during H1. This was the most raised by an African start-up during a single half-year since MNT-Halan secured US$400m in H1 2023.
Spiro’s financing is especially interesting because it illustrates several trends simultaneously. It operates in a capital-intensive sector, combines debt and equity, and is building physical infrastructure rather than a purely digital product. The funding will support the expansion of its electric motorcycle and battery-swapping network across Africa.[5] Spiro is also increasingly difficult to assign to one national ecosystem. Founded in Benin, the company now describes Nairobi as an important operational base, while its corporate structure is headquartered outside the continent (Dubai). Spiro alone raised as much as all the start-ups headquartered in Egypt during the semester.
Flutterwave’s Series E also made a major contribution to the June numbers. The amount was not officially disclosed, but we estimated it at approximately US$100m. The round valued the company at US$3.2bn – technically a flat round if we compare to previous valuations – and included a strategic investment from Ripple.[6] MNT-Halan also announced the first closing of a new equity round, estimated at US$50m, after its lending subsidiary had already issued approximately US$41m in securitised debt earlier in the year.[7]
Stable amounts, fewer ventures
The most concerning indicator however was deal volume. Only 190 ventures raised at least US$100k during H1 2026, the lowest half-year tally recorded since we started tracking this metric in 2021. The contraction was particularly pronounced among earlier-stage ventures raising between US$100k and US$1m: their number fell from 179 in H2 2025 to just 100 in H1 2026, a -44% HoH decline.
This decline matters particularly because smaller rounds form the base of the funding pipeline. Large transactions can sustain aggregate funding figures for several quarters, but the companies raising less than US$1m today are among those expected to seek Series A and growth-stage capital in future years. A prolonged shortage of early-stage funding could therefore weaken the ecosystem’s capacity to produce its next generation of large-scale ventures.
Investor participation provides another indication of reduced market breadth. At least 264 investors participated in a US$100k+ transaction during H1 2026, compared with more than 330 in H1 2025 (-20% YoY). These figures inevitably underestimate some angels and undisclosed participants, but the comparison points in the same direction as the deal-count data: less capital-market activity beneath the largest transactions.
The semester nevertheless produced 25 announced exits, compared with 21 in H1 2025 and putting the ecosystem within reach of the record set in 2025 (48 in total). These included Flutterwave’s acquisition of Nigerian open-banking company Mono in an all-stock transaction reportedly valued at between US$25m and US$40m[1] and Araxi’s acquisition of an 80% stake in South African payments company Pay@ for approximately US$62m.[2]
A higher number of exits is generally an encouraging sign of ecosystem liquidity, though the figures need to be interpreted carefully as not all acquisitions generate strong returns for founders and investors. Some are distressed sales, acqui-hires or transactions completed below companies’ previous valuations. The Mono transaction, for example, was reportedly below the company’s previously reported US$50m valuation, even though early investors may still have generated attractive returns.[3]Exit volume is therefore improving, but the quality and financial outcomes of these transactions remain uneven.
Egypt leads, while Nigeria regains ground
Egypt was the continent’s largest country market in H1 2026, with its ventures raising US$327m, followed by Nigeria with US$254m, Kenya with US$126m, and South Africa with only US$83m. Together, these traditional “Big Four” markets attracted 58% of total funding, significantly below their 78% share in H1 2025 and 82% share for the whole of 2025. The change should not necessarily be read as a dramatic diversification of the ecosystem, however, as Spiro alone accounts for almost a quarter of the continental total. Egypt’s 27% share of funding, meanwhile, was its highest since tracking began.
Looking exclusively at equity produces a different ranking. Nigeria led with US$214m, ahead of Egypt with US$183m, while South Africa and Kenya were some distance behind with US$66m and US$46m respectively. Nigeria also returned to the top position by number of ventures funded after a relatively weak H2 2025. Its funding total has remained remarkably stable over the past several periods and exceeded US$250m in a half-year for the first time since 2022.
Kenya and South Africa both underperformed. Kenya recorded its weakest half-year since early 2021 after an exceptionally strong H2 2025, while South Africa – the leading market a year earlier – failed to reach US$100m. Beyond the Big Four, Tanzania, Côte d’Ivoire and Morocco each attracted more than US$25m. Morocco, Tanzania and Ghana also recorded at least ten ventures raising US$100k+, though Ghana ranked only eleventh by funding amount.
Fintech stays ahead, but mobility drives the numbers
Fintech remained the largest sector in H1 2026, attracting approximately US$556m, or 41% of the total. Flutterwave, MNT-Halan and Egyptian consumer-finance company ValU were among its main contributors. ValU secured a financing facility of up to US$64m from the National Bank of Egypt and a further estimated US$12m from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.[8]
The strongest challenge to fintech came from logistics and transport, which raised approximately US$472m, equivalent to 35% of continental funding. Almost 70% of this total was attributable to Spiro alone. Without its transactions, the sector’s performance would have been considerably more modest, again highlighting the concentration of H1’s funding.
Agriculture and food ranked third with approximately US$93m, followed by waste management with US$60m, energy and water with US$50m, and deeptech with US$47m. The relatively weak showing of energy contrasts with 2025, when large off-grid solar and productive-energy transactions made it one of the continent’s leading funding sectors.
The five largest fundraisers illustrate the extent to which fintech and climate-related business models dominated the top of the market. Spiro led with US$327m, followed by Flutterwave with an estimated US$100m, MNT-Halan (US$91m – estimate), ValU (US$76m – estimate), and Sistema.bio with US$53m. Together, these five companies raised approximately US$647m, equivalent to nearly half of all funding announced during the semester.
Sistema.bio’s transaction also demonstrates that climate-related financing is expanding beyond solar-energy distributors. The company raised US$53m for FarmCarbon, a financing vehicle designed to make biodigesters more affordable for smallholder farmers while generating revenues from carbon credits.[9] Spiro’s transactions similarly show how debt and equity can be combined to finance physical assets, working capital and infrastructure expansion.
H1 2026 ultimately delivered a respectable funding total. Equity proved relatively resilient, debt remained accessible to established companies, and exit activity continued to increase. The ecosystem can still support transactions of considerable scale, and companies in fintech, mobility and climate-related sectors are accessing increasingly sophisticated combinations of capital.
Yet the semester also revealed a growing imbalance. Fewer ventures raised funding, fewer investors participated, and nearly half of all capital went to only five companies. One exceptional month – and one exceptional fundraiser – prevented the top-line numbers from recording a much sharper decline.
The key question for H2 is therefore not only whether African start-ups can continue announcing large rounds. It is whether funding activity can broaden again, particularly at the below US$1m level. Without that recovery, the continent may continue to produce reassuring aggregate numbers while gradually weakening the pipeline on which future growth depends.
[1] TechCrunch, “Flutterwave buys Nigeria’s Mono in rare African fintech exit”.
[2] Araxi Limited, “Proposed acquisition of Pay@”.
[3]Condia, “Flutterwave acquires Mono for US$30 million in all-stock deal”.
[4] Spiro, “African EV platform Spiro raises US$215m in equity to scale electric mobility and energy infrastructure across Africa”.
[5] Associated Press, “EV firm Spiro raises US$215 million for expansion across Africa”.
[6]TechCrunch, “Payments startup Flutterwave hits US$3.2bn valuation, backed by Ripple”.
[8] Disrupt Africa, “Egyptian fintech company ValU secures US$63.6m financing from National Bank”.
[9] Sistema.bio, “Sistema.bio raises US$53m to launch FarmCarbon”
