Start-ups Raise 460m In Q1 2025, With Fintech Leading Funding And Gender Disparity Persisting

As expected, the performance in March significantly impacted the overall numbers. In total, start-ups raised 460m in Q1 through 100k deals excluding exits, which is only slightly below the Q1 2024 total of 486m, reflecting a 5 YoY decrease. However, its important to note that Q1 2024 itself was not a particularly strong quarter. In fact, Q1 2025 marks the second-lowest quarter for start-up funding since late 2020. Looking at the number of start-ups that raised at least 1m in Q1, there is a more positive outlook. With 52 such start-ups, this figure aligns with the 2023-2024 average.

As expected, 83 of the funding went to the Big Four countries, with Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa each attracting approximately 100m in funding 24, 24, and 22 of the total, respectively. Egypt followed with 61m 14. Togo rounded out the top five, bolstered by Gozem's 30m Series B funding round. Nearly half of the funding 46 was raised by fintech start-ups 53m for LemFi, 38m for Naked, etc., with energy 18 and logistics transportation 10 following in terms of sectoral breakdown.

Female CEOs secured just over 2 of the total funding 10m, with the largest round being a 6.2m grant awarded to South African biotech company African Biologics. If grants are excluded, the proportion of funding raised by female CEOs in Q1 2025 drops to 0.7. Ultimately, 79 of the funding went to either solo male founders 11 or male-only founding teams 67. Diverse founding teams received 20 of the total, which, while not ideal, is relatively strong compared to previous quarters. A mere 1 was allocated to solo female founders or female-only founding teams.

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