Forty-four African start-ups secured funding of at least $100,000 in July, raising a combined $102 million, according to new data from Africa: The Big Deal.
Although the number of funded start-ups was almost in line with the average recorded over the past year, the total amount raised was significantly lower. July’s funding was 60 per cent below the previous 12-month monthly average of $258 million, making it the weakest month for start-up funding since March 2025.
The report noted that while funding activity remained steady, the structure of the investments changed considerably.
Of the $102 million raised in July, only $25 million came through equity financing, representing just 25 per cent of the total. This marks the lowest monthly equity funding recorded since April 2019.
Debt financing dominated the month, accounting for $75 million, or 74 per cent of all funds raised.
Some of the biggest transactions included M-Kopa’s $30 million financing package from FMO, Bridgement’s $20 million, BioLite’s $11 million, and Nesa Power’s $9 million. All four were debt deals.
The report also highlighted three notable start-up exits during the month. Stakpak and Better Auth were acquired by US cloud platform Vercel, while Conservio was acquired by Dutch company glampings.com.
These transactions brought the total number of African start-up exits in 2026 to 28, slightly higher than the 27 exits recorded during the same period last year.
From January to July 2026, African start-ups raised a total of $1.46 billion, down from $2 billion raised during the same period in 2025, representing a 27 per cent year-on-year decline.
Equity funding for the first seven months of the year stood at $921 million, a 9 per cent drop compared to the same period last year.
Debt funding also declined sharply, falling to $529 million from $941 million in 2025, a 44 per cent decrease.
The report further revealed that only 241 African start-ups raised at least $100,000 between January and July this year. That figure is significantly lower than the 302 ventures funded during the same period in 2025 and 286 in 2024, pointing to a continued slowdown in funding across the continent’s start-up ecosystem.
