Over 120 African tech startups raised a combined funding in excess of $185.7m in 2015, according to a study conducted by Disrupt Africa.
According to the report, the most favoured destinations for funding in 2015 were South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya. With 36% of the 2015 funding share, South African startups raised in excess of $54,568,000. Nigeria had 24% of the cut, receiving over $49,404,000. Kenya came third place (14.4%), bringing home over $47,365,000 in funding.
Of the 10 sectors monitored in the report, the solar sector is said to have seen the most investor activity, accounting for 32.9% of total funds raised. The FinTech sector proved a close second, securing 29.6% of the total funds.
While these are impressive figures, a number of questions come to mind as to the accuracy of the report. Especially as 2015 featured a sizable number of “undisclosed” funding rounds.
According to Disrupt Africa Co-Founder, Tom Jackson, the report “does account for ‘undisclosed’ rounds, in that case we have estimated a ‘lowest possible figure’ based on round and the investor’s MO when it comes to investing. In order to not come to an inflated figure or be accused of inflating, we have deliberately underestimated undisclosed rounds. They will all in reality be higher. There are also a number of rounds that have not been publicised at all in there, as well as a number of totally off the record figures.”
You can read the full report by visiting disrupt-africa.com/funding-report.
