Kenya leads in Africa as Favourite Investment Destination

[Timo25]

Kenya beat Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt and Ghana in 2020 in attracting investment for its startups. This is according to a report by Startuplist Africa, a data-driven platform that provides insights to the African Startup Ecosystem. The report based its findings on publicly disclosed funding deals on African Startups operating on the continent (whether or not they have their HQs on the continent), and does not include mergers and acquisitions.

Based on all that, Kenya

emerged as the top investment destination through the year attracting $266 Million for its startups. According to the report, this was a $114 Million jump in investment compared to 2019.

The top industries receiving the investments are startups in the Renewable Energy sector, Agritech, and logistics. The top funded startup according to the report was Greenlight Planet which raised $90 Million. Greenlight Planet designs, distributes and finances Sun King solar home energy solutions to households and businesses who don’t have access to or can’t rely on the national grid.

Nigeria

came in second attracting $237 Million. According to the report, this marked a significant drop compared to 2019 where Nigerian startups had attracted $640 Million in investment. Here also, the top funded startup deals with clean energy solution by providing solar power to homes.

South Africa

came in third claiming over 19% of the total share of investment. The top funded startup in the country was Jumo a technology platform that partners with banks and mobile network operators, to building financial services and solutions. According to the report, this marked an increase of $91 Million in investment compared to 2019.

Egypt

which the report describes as one of Africa’s fastest growing startup ecosystems came in 4th with logistics and transport startups taking the lead in investment. Vezeeta, a digital healthcare startup raised the most money followed by SWVL, a transport company with the aim to revolutionise the transport industry in emerging markets. They even have presence in Kenya.

Ghana

came in fifth with a total of $90 Million raised in 2020. Chipper Cash raised over $44 Million with the world’s second richest man, Jeff Bezos as one of its investors.

Kenya leads in Africa as Favourite Investment Destination - Techish Kenya

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[nomasana]

Progressive practical policies are crucial. At this point Kenya has a reputation as a place where investors feel are welcome.

 

[Tony254]

Nice one. Malazy won't like this news.

 

[pingli-nywee]

At $68M and $29M over S.A and Nigeria respectively, Kenya's Green City under The Sun is surely pulling its weight on the start-up scene. Nairobi should seriously think about using 'The Silicon Savannah' tag in each and every promo it puts out there. Sounds 'dreamingly' romantic though that The Silicon Savannah is also home to the only National Park in the world within the confines of a city. Maybe I should write a book about this stuff.