Nigeria’s Fintech firms to raise $1.2 billion by 2022
Amid the economic slowdown in Nigeria, Nigerian Fintech companies fetched $1.2 billion in venture capital funding in 2022, followed by Kenyan fintech which raised $1.1 billion and Egypt with $820 million, LEADERSHIP learned.
In Lagos alone, some 107 tech startups raised $750 million worth of funding by 2022, and between 20,000 and 50,000 people are employed in various startups across the innovation sector.
Among the Fintech companies in Nigeria that received huge funding in 2022 are Flutterwave, which raised a Series D round of $250 million, the largest funding announcement in 2022 and Interswitch, one of Africa’s largest fintech companies, which secured a deal of 110 million dollars in a joint venture. agreement with LeapFrog Investments and Tana Africa Capital to increase its presence across Africa with its digital payment services.
Moove, the Nigerian mobility fintech and Uber’s largest vehicle supplier in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, also raised the sum of $105 million in new Series A2 funding to scale across its current markets and move into new markets outside of Africa; Nigerian fintech startup TeamApt also raised $50 million in a “pre-Series C round”.
Vendease, a Y Combinator-backed digital platform that allows African restaurants to buy supplies, access financial services and run their business, secured a $20 million Series A equity round and in June 2022 Healthtracka, which now supplies more than 1,000 tests a month in ten Nigerian cities, collected among other things 1.5 million dollars.
While the $1.2 billion in venture capital funding was impressive, considering the global economic downturn that led to the decline in venture funding in almost every country, it is a 21 percent year-over-year decrease compared to over $1.5. billion collected in 2021.
Data from Africa: The Big Deal revealed that among the big four countries in Africa that have raised significant equity funding, only Nigeria and South Africa recorded a decline in funding in 2022, while adding that South African startups only raised $500 million by the end of November 2022, which is half of the funding it had raised by that time in 2021.
This decline is mainly attributed to the H2 decline in funding that affected almost all tech ecosystems on the continent, although CB Insights State of Venture Q3’22 Report, revealed that venture funding in Africa surprisingly fell by 54 percent in Q3 2022.
