African startups have performed better than what many had predicted. In Q1 2023 they raised US$1.3bn (incl. exits) beating all market expectations. Indeed, whether we include exits or not, start-ups in Africa raised more funding in Q1 2023 than they had in Q3 and Q4 2022. The fact that they managed to do so in a tough global financial environment speaks volumes of the resilience of the African tech-innovation entrepreneurship. In Q1 2022, African start-ups in Africa set a record by raising close to US$1.9bn in a single quarter – a record that is yet to be broken.
Source: NTU-SBF Centre for African Studies
