The Giant of Africa Remained the Giant of African Fintech in Q3 2023

In the third quarter of 2023, Fintech funding in Africa reached $38 million, as reported by Fintech Global.

Nigeria continued to lead the way in African FinTech, closing 12 deals, accounting for 23.5% of the total deals. South Africa followed closely with 11 deals, making up 21.6% of the deals, and Kenya was not far behind with 10 deals, contributing to a 19.6% share of all deals.

While the most substantial investment deal by an African Fintech went to Lupiya, a startup from Zambia, the largest investment fund secured by a Nigerian Fintech was secured by Traction.

Traction, an e-commerce platform based in Nigeria, proudly announced that it had raised $6 million in a seed investment round before mid-August, with the aim of accelerating the growth of the company.

This investment round was spearheaded by Multiply Partners and Ventures Platform, with the participation of other investors like P1 Ventures. The funds are anticipated to be used for expanding their operations in Nigeria.

The second largest Nigerian Fintech deal that happened in the third quarter of this year was secured by Anchor.

Anchor raked in a substantial $2.4m in seed investment, the financing round was spearheaded by Goat Capital, steered by Justin Kan, according to a report from TechCrunch in early September.

In a venture led by Pan-African venture capital fund, Ventures Platform, with significant contributions from Founders Factory Africa and follow-on investor Techstars, MyCover.ai secured a $1.25m pre-seed funding round in July making it the third biggest Fintech deal in Q3 2023 from Nigeria.

While these aforementioned fintech startups enjoyed the highest investment funds in Q3, overall, the African fintech world did not enjoy the level of funding the continent’s startups are used to.

Africa’s FinTech sector has seen a drop in both investment and deal activity during Q3 2023 as revealed in a bit-sized report by Fintech Global. According to the report, the number of African FinTech deals dwindled to 51 in Q3 2023, marking a significant 28% YoY decline. This being said, the report also stated that the global average for FinTech deals dropped 48% over the same period.