Kenyan Ventures Raised USD 428.91 Mn in 2019 – WeeTracker Report
The 2019 funding report by WeeTracker is out! And with it comes lots of insights to be drawn on what’s causing the buzz in the African startup ecosystem.
An impressive USD 1.34 Bn went into startups last year across Africa. Nothing short of a spectacular figure, this is the highest amount of funding driven into the continent.
But more specifically, what’s been happening in Kenya?
The Silicon Savannah is still one of the top destinations attracting deal flows, second only to Nigeria in the amount received.
In comparison to figures from 2018, the number of deals in Kenya were more or less, with this year recording 72 deals, down from 77 in the last year. However, the investment volume went up by close to 300%. The gross escalation could partly be attributed to big-ticket deals of more than USD 40 Mn, nabbed by three companies, Branch, Bboxx and Carepay.
The usual suspects as per sectors also remained the same as fintech and agritech as they emerged as the top sectors. Similar to 2018, the highest amount of investment went to a fintech company.
Logistics companies also got a significant piece of the pie, getting more number of deals than both fintech and agritech. Overall, the number of deals in each also just slightly increased.
But these are just some of the highlights featured in the report. For a more comprehensive dive into events in 2019 pertaining to the African entrepreneurship ecosystem, have a look at the report!