Over the past decades, as Africa’s startup scene has grown, many African-founded companies have moved their parent companies to foreign locations such as Delaware, California, London and Paris.
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Four Sierra Leonean startups have represented the country at the second ECOWAS Startup Awards in Abuja, Nigeria, joining 60 startups selected from approximately 10,600 applications submitted across Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) member states.
African startups raised $2.16 billion between January and September 2026, excluding exits. That’s 4% below the $2.24 billion raised in the same period of 2025. The headline number hides a bigger shift; the mix of money changed.
native African companies took less than 2% of the continent’s startup funding in the first half of 2026, Grégoire de Padirac, CEO of Digital Africa, told BusinessDay. Over the same period, the number of African startups raising at least $100,000 fell to 190, the lowest since 2021
For the second year in a row, startups in Kenya received the bulk of funding in 2024, 88 percent of the total raised in East Africa and more than a quarter of the continent’s total, according to a new report by Africa: The Big Deal.
African fintech companies must think holistically about customer needs, as we live in the most connected generation the world has ever seen.
