Kamisaki,
Victoria from Techpoint here,
Here’s what I’ve got for you today:
- June’s $365M pushes African funding surge
- Ghana overhauls SIM rules and unveils Startup Bill
- Telecom Egypt completes major subsea cable landings
June’s $365M pushes African funding surge
African startup funding surged in June 2025, with $365 million raised, the best single-month total in nearly a year, according to Africa: The Big Deal. That strong June performance helped push the H1 total to $1.35 billion, a big rebound from the $800 million recorded in H1 2024, a 78% year-over-year jump.
The recovery wasn’t just a one-off. Techpoint Africa reported that April saw a spike to $343 million, bouncing back from a weak March of just $50 million, while May helped bring the January–May total to $1 billion, a 40% increase over the same period last year.
These numbers put the H1 2025 monthly average at roughly $237 million, compared to $133 million in H1 2024 and $187 million across all of 2024. With over four months in the year topping the $250 million mark, the pattern shows steadily growing momentum.
On the funding mix: equity led with $950 million in H1 2025, up 79% year-over-year, though slightly down from the $1.02 billion pulled in over H2 2024. Debt, meanwhile, saw a dramatic rebound in June, $227 million in just one month, more than half of H1’s $400 million total, and was fuelled largely by Senegal’s Wave fintech snagging a $137 million raise.
Experts say this mix of equity and debt, plus consistent monthly performance, signals a stabilising African tech investment space. While global economic jitters remain, investor confidence on the continent appears to be strengthening.
But it’s not all rosy. Nigeria, once the leading force in the region, saw zero startups make the top 10 funding rounds in May, with Egyptian startups topping the charts instead. Many analysts are watching to see if Nigeria can regain its footing as momentum builds elsewhere.
Ghana overhauls SIM rules and unveils Startup Bill
Yesterday, July 3, 2025, Ghana’s Communication Minister, Sam George, announced a major revamp of SIM registration and hinted at a game-changing Startups Bill to curb cybercrime, streamline regulations, and position the country as Africa’s innovation hotspot.
First up, the SIM registration shake-up. Unchanged since 2010, the system is getting a three-phase upgrade: cleaning up fraudulent entries via biometrics, tightening activation checks, then verifying business SIMs, and cutting non-compliant ones. It integrates with telecoms and the Ghana Revenue Service and rolled out July 1, aiming to curb scams, slash roaming fees, and improve device security.
These changes follow wins for Ghana’s Cybersecurity Authority, including arresting 400 people and confiscating thousands of phones in Tamale, a city in the country, underscoring the government’s crackdown on digital fraud. George warned Ghanaians to stay cautious, noting that “no legitimate entity will ever ask for your PIN over the phone.”
On the startup front, the Startups Bill, submitted in March, is in its final drafting stage and expected to pass by December. It promises legal clarity, tax breaks, easier compliance, and an official Ghana Innovation & Startup Agency. The legislation aligns with Ghana hosting the Global Entrepreneurship Festival this November, set to attract around 10,000 attendees from 70+ countries.
The broader tech agenda includes AI, misinformation control, spectrum policy, local internet exchange points, and even supporting amateur radio, all part of 15 new digital laws aimed at making Ghana a regional tech powerhouse by 2028. Efforts like regional roaming agreements with Togo, Benin, and Côte d’Ivoire also show Ghana’s ambition to build a connected West Africa.
Why it matters: The SIM reforms directly combat rising mobile-money fraud, while the Startups Bill encourages investment and entrepreneurship, sending a strong message that Ghana is serious about making digital access a right, not a luxury, and cementing its position as Africa’s next big innovation hub.
Telecom Egypt completes major subsea cable landings
Telecom Egypt has landed a big win, literally. The telco just wrapped up dual landings of the SEA-ME-WE-6 subsea cable on both of Egypt’s coasts, a major milestone in what’s shaping up to be one of the most important cable systems connecting Asia, Africa, and Europe. The landings happened in Port Said on the Mediterranean and Ras Ghareb on the Red Sea, with SubCom, the system supplier, handling the heavy-lifting.
To connect the two landings, Telecom Egypt rolled out two diverse terrestrial routes across the country, ensuring that the cable has strong redundancy and resilience. It’s part of the telco’s push to keep Egypt a critical junction for international data traffic, especially along the high-demand Eurasia corridor linking Southeast Asia to Europe.
The SEA-ME-WE-6 cable spans a massive 21,700km, running from Singapore to France, and involves a powerhouse consortium of 16 members, including Microsoft, Orange, Singtel, Bharti Airtel, and of course, Telecom Egypt. Once fully operational, it’ll connect 17 locations and massively boost global Internet capacity and redundancy, particularly for regions like the Middle East and Africa.
Mohamed Nasr, MD and CEO of Telecom Egypt, says this step reinforces Egypt’s importance as a digital bridge between continents. “The Southeast Asia–Europe route has proven to be vital for carrying global traffic, and we’re doubling down on diversity and capacity,” he said. Meanwhile, SubCom’s CEO David Coughlan praised the collaboration and noted that the project is now well on track for full deployment.
This landing is just the latest in a wave of subsea activity for Telecom Egypt. Over the past year, the company has partnered with firms like Mobily, ASN, ZOI, and Alcatel to land or co-develop new subsea systems. Egypt is increasingly cementing its role as Africa’s subsea hub, with key links to Europe, Asia, the Gulf, and soon, even Australia via Google’s upcoming Umoja cable.
From 2Africa and Equiano to Africa-1 and now SEA-ME-WE-6, it’s clear the continent’s digital future is being built beneath the waves, and Egypt is at the centre of it all.
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Opportunities
- Pitch Friday is next Friday, June 11, 2025. Register here to attend.
- Lagos Business School is hiring. Apply here.
- Kuda is looking to fill 37 positions. Apply here.
- MasterCard is recruiting a Head of Impact Labs. Apply here.
- Jumia is hiring a Chief Marketing Officer (Pipeline). Apply here.
- Sun King is looking for a Workforce Planning Analyst, Nigeria. Apply here.
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Have a fun weekend!
Victoria Fakiya for Techpoint Africa.
