The Partech Africa Report is here, and it's the best yet with US$2.02 B raised!

Today, the much anticipated Partech Africa Annual Report has been published, which shows how 2019 was another year of reaching symbolic milestones and smashing records in the dynamic and fast-growing tech investment ecosystem in Africa. The report clearly demonstrates how the economies of the continent are being significantly redefined by VC Tech investment, as is explained by General Partner of Partech Cyril Collon: “Africa's tech ecosystem has moved into the mainstream, transforming economies considerably, and while there are certain ups and downs to be expected in the future, this new reality is also redefining the scope of Private Equity on the continent, with Venture Capital on the way to becoming the number one asset class in Africa.”

The report, which is the fourth the team has produced, is based on the same methodology as the previous years: it covers equity deals in tech and digital spaces, and funding rounds higher than US$200K. it covers both disclosed and undisclosed deals. The report only focuses on African start-ups i.e. companies with their primary market in Africa (i.e. in terms of operations and revenues).   

2018 saw US$1.163B raised in private equity, a figure that both Cyril Collon and Tidjane Dème anticipated to be reached after a further two years. Exceeding expectations even further, in 2019 that number increased significantly, with US$2.02B in equity being raised through 250 rounds, representing a 74%YoY growth.

The Partech Africa report tracked 250 rounds raised by 234 start-ups compared to 164 rounds by 146 start-ups the year before, representing +52% growth YoY in deal count. It should also be noted that the early stage rounds of Seed and Series A investments were extremely dense, a fact that demonstrates investors' confidence in taking early bets in Africa.

The report also highlights the success of Nigerian tech startups, having attracted a record high of US$747M in VC investment, which accounts for 37% of all funding. Egypt is also reported to have been succeeding at an accelerated rate, having just broken into the Top 3 countries both in terms of deal count (+147 YoY) and deal volume (+215% YoY).

Another stand out point that is brought to light through the report is the overwhelming comparison between investments in the FinTech sector and those in the rest of the start-up world. In fact, General Partner of Partech, Tidjane Dème explained that: “Fintech is clearly exploding on the continent with more and more digital players enabling startups to serve the segment.  This is one of the reasons that VC investors now have a much larger pool to play with than the traditional private equity investors did before. We’re seeing the latter come in into smaller tickets and into the tech space, trying to find interesting opportunities.”

You can download the full report here