African Ventures Raised USD 2.07 B in 2024: Future Africa & WT Report
WT Media Inc. and Future Africa have released the African Venture Capital Report 2024, revealing a year of continued shifts for the continent’s startup ecosystem.
African funding patterns closely mirrored global trends, with startups raising USD 2.07 B in publicly disclosed funding—a 4.5% increase from 2023, despite a 2% drop in deal volume. We have also seen more new fund launches announced than capital deployed, which gives rise to cautious optimism for 2025.
However, despite the slight increase in overall funding, we have seen significant shifts across investment stages. Early-stage funding has seen a significant decline from 31% in 2021 to now 9% of total funding, while growth and late investment stages have increased their share of funding.
Mia von Koschitzky-Kimani, Managing Partner at Future Africa, highlighted this shift, saying, “Given the stark declines in investment capital at angel, pre-seed and, to some extent, seed stages, we should expect thin pipelines at growth and late stages where lots of capital has been raised recently. We are already seeing very strong demand in our portfolio for companies that are reaching Series A territory .”
We expect the underallocation to early stages to lead to significant gaps in pipeline at growth and late stages going forward.
In terms of sectors, Fintech maintained its dominance, accounting for 51% of total funding, but the sharp rise of climate-focused investments pushed the energy and environment sector to 27% driven by significant appetite of the development investment sector to fund climate. This surge, however, came at the expense of historically prioritised sectors like healthcare, education, and mobility despite the importance of these sectors for Africa’s socio-economic development.
NJ, Founder of WT Media, emphasised the need for capital to align with Africa’s unique opportunities, stating, “Africa’s startup ecosystem continues to evolve, showing incredible resilience and potential. But for the continent to truly unlock its innovation and economic power, we need investments that align with our unique opportunities—capital that supports long-term growth, embraces bold ideas, and empowers African entrepreneurs to lead the charge.”
Investors are also increasingly turning to debt financing, which gained significant ground over equity in 2024, particularly in climate-related sectors. Nowhere was this more evident than in Kenya, which led the continent in total funding with USD 537 M, benefiting from an influx of climate-focused debt capital. Egypt, South Africa, and Nigeria followed, with the four leading markets accounting for 80% of total VC funding, reaffirming their dominance.
As Africa’s venture capital ecosystem matures, the focus is increasingly on resilience, market fundamentals, and long-term scalability over short-term hype. The full report offers a deep dive into these trends, sectoral shifts, and the evolving investor landscape.
“We are excited to partner with WeeTracker to shape a narrative about the African Venture Capital landscape that combines the hard data with what we are seeing on the ground every day,” von Koschitzky-Kimani said.
NJ added, “A heartfelt thank you to our partners, Future Africa, for their unwavering dedication and collaboration on this report. Their commitment to applying every insight and learning has been invaluable, elevating this report to a truly top-notch resource for anyone seeking a clear and accurate picture of Africa’s venture capital landscape.
Download the African Venture Capital Report 2024.
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