List of African Startups that raised more than $100M in 2021

African startups raised more than $100 million each in rounds this year than ever before. It is a pat on the back for the continent to make this a norm, placing Africa on the global innovation map and becoming more appealing to investors.

The continent has seen a huge increase in mega-deals – $100+ funding – with Senegal at 90 percent, 55 percent in Nigeria, and 39 percent in South Africa, and other Africa countries that are gradually breaking into more innovations. These deals accounted for 40 percent of the total funds raised by African startups in 2021.

Opay had one of the three nine-figure deals in 2019 after raising $120 million in Series B funding round. It was to the surprise of everyone that the following year barely had any nine-figure deals. It was also shocking that the continent didn’t produce any unicorn, due to economic turmoil that came with the COVID-19 pandemic. It is important to note that before last year, only two African startups had ever secured mega deals funding: Opay and Andela.

The draught was short-lived as African startups stepped up in 2021, and not only had its highest number of unicorns, yet, but also recorded the most nine-figure rounds in a single year.

‘How much did these unicorns really raise?’

The majority of the rounds were fintech deals, with the exception of Andela and TradeDepot – although the latter has an embedded finance play. Also, all but two deals were equity-based: TradeDepot and MFS.

Opay (Nigeria)

·        Amount: $400 million

·        Sector: Fintech

Opay is a Chinese founded fintech operating in Nigeria. The company raised a total of $400 million last year in a Series C funding round which was led by lead investor, SoftBank. The company said it would use the fund to expand its operations across Africa. Opay previously had two funding rounds where it raised $170 million in 2017; $50 million in June and $120 million in November.

Chipper Cash (East Africa)

·        Amount: $250 million

·        Sector: Fintech

Fintech company, Chipper Cash was created in 2018 by Ham Serunjogi (Uganda) and Maijid Moujaled (Ghana). The startup offers mobile-based P2P services in seven countries across Africa. The company generated $250 million in Series C funding last year, with SVB Capital and FTX as the leading investors. The round pushed the startup’s valuation to $2 billion.

Wave (Senegal)

·        Amount: $200 million

·        Sector: Fintech

Wave is a Senegal based money transfer startup with operations across Africa. The startup raised $200 million in funding from investors including Sequoia Heritage, Stripe, Ribbit Capital, and Founders Fund. Wave’s valuation was pushed to nearly $1.7 billion in 2021. According to reports, Wave is the first unicorn from Francophone Africa and the third startup to reach the mark up last year.

Andela (Nigeria)

·        Amount: $200 million

·        Sector: Recruitment

Andela is a Nigerian-based recruiting company that connects talented software engineers to global companies. Last year, the company raised $200 million in funds from SoftBank and Whale Rock, putting its valuation at $1.5 billion.

Flutterwave (Nigeria)

·        Amount: $170 million

·        Sector: Fintech

Flutterwave is a Nigerian-based online money processing and payment company. It was founded in 2016 and has offices in Lagos (Nigeria) and San Francisico (USA). The fintech raised $170 million in a Series C round led by Avenir Growth Capital and Tiger Global, pushing its valuation to over $1 billion.

MNT-Halan (Egypt)

·        Amount $120 million

·        Sector: Fintech

MNT-Halan is Egypt’s largest and fastest growing money lending company to the unbanked. The company raised a total of $120 million in funding last year.

Jumo (South Africa)

·        Amount: $120 million

·        Sector: Fintech

Jumo is a South-African based fintech that partners with financial institutions and e-commerce platforms across Africa and Asia to deliver financial solutions to customers in emerging markets.

Trade Depot (Nigeria)

·        Amount: $100 million

·        Sector: Logistics

Trade Depot is a Nigerian-based B2B digital platform that acts as an intermediary between producers of consumer goods and an informal network of Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) retailers.

Tyme Bank (South Africa)

·        Amount: $109 million

·        Sector: Fintech

Tyme Bank is South-Africa’s exclusively digital retail bank with hundreds of thousands of customers across the country.

MFS Africa (South Africa)

·        Amount $100

·        Sector: Fintech

MFS Africa is the largest mobile money interoperability hub across Africa. It connects mobile network operators in the continent through a single API.