Investments into East African startups fall by 50pc as Nigeria shines
Workers at Kenyan-based Twiga Foods Ltd. Big deals that took place in Kenya in 2021 include the $50 million Series C round in e-commerce food distribution platform Twiga Foods from a consortium of investors PHOTO | FILE | NMG
East Africa’s investments in startups declined by more than 50 percent in 2021, with deal activities falling by two percent, largely due to the impact of new restrictions imposed by governments to tame the spread of the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The latest Venture Capital in Africa report (April 2022) by the African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (AVCA) shows that the value of funding raised by East African entrepreneurs as a proportion of total deal value in Africa fell by more than half to seven percent ($364 million) in 2021 from 18 percent ($900 million) in the seven-year period (2014-2020) .
