Venture capital (VC) funding in Africa declined by 26 percent in the first half of 2026, crashing to its lowest level since the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 as tightening global liquidity conditions pushed investors to smaller deals below $3 million, amid increasing uncertainty over the Middle East crisis.
Disclosures by the African Private Capital Association (AVCA) show that venture capital deals fell by about 20 percent across most segments—seed, early and late stage—in a trend endangering the growth of start-ups, which are the economic engines of job creation and tech innovations on the continent.
