As the African startup space continues to witness increased funding, in what has been described as a stabilisation phase, it has emerged that 238 startups on the continent attracted at least $100,000 in the first half of 2025.

This is according to a report by the African venture funding analytics company, Africa the Big Deal.

This is coming as African startups recorded a successful first half of the year, attracting more than $1.4 billion in funding and putting the year in a position to be better than the last. Despite the overall impressive number, the 238 startups that raised at least $100,000 represent a poorer performance compared to the first two halves of 2024.

“In the first half of the year, 238 start-ups raised at least $100k in Africa. This is a good number overall, roughly on par with what we have been seeing since mid-2023. If we were nitpicking, we’d say it’s slightly below the H1 2024 and H2 2024 numbers,” the report states.

The impressive performance recorded in the first half of the year was bolstered by the number of startups that raised at least $1 million: 108 startups. This is slightly above average for the number of startups that hit the million-dollar mark within the same period since 2023.

But the most impressive note is the number of startups that hit the $10 million mark: 39. This is the highest since the funding heatwave in mid-2022.

Indeed, the average number of startups to hit the $10 million mark in one half since 2022 is about 26. This means the H1 2025 total is 50% higher than the half-year average in that period.

While the majority of these larger deals were by startups from the Big Four locations, especially Egypt, some large deals also emanated from smaller markets. For instance, Senegalese fintech startup, Wave, raised $137 million, the largest funding of the H1 funding under review.

Similarly, Ivorian startup, Djamo, raised $17 million in April.

Others are Gozem, a mobility super app out of Togo that raised $30 million in a Series B funding round back in February, Ghana’s Zeepay, which raised $18 million in May, Kera Health, a Senegal-based health tech that raised $10 million in June, and Furaha, a Uganda-based fintech that raised $10 million in January.

Over 330 investors funded 238 African startups in H1 2025

The story about the impressive investments in African startups would not be complete without taking a look at the venture capitalists and other investors who provided the funding. Per the report, at least 330 investors participated in at least one deal worth at least $100,000 on the continent in the first half of 2025.

“This number is likely underestimated as only the largest investors tend to be mentioned in deal announcements,” the report reads.

The top ten investors list featured VCs from Africa and across the globe. These include Launch Africa, Renew Capital, BII – the UK’s DFI – and Partech Africa, as well as a new player: Investing in Innovation (i3).

The total number of investors who participated in the half is slightly better than the 300 investors recorded in the first half of 2024, but way less than the over 400 recorded in the first half of 2023, a 17.5 per cent decrease, and the over 675 investors that participated in the first half of 2022 representing a 51.2 per cent reduction.

However, the most active investors so far have been DEG (the German DFI, part of the KfW group) through the financing and implementation of BMZ’s develoPPP grant programme, and Digital Africa, a subsidiary of French DFI Proparco.

Similarly, an aspect of financing that isn’t much talked about is the number of exits, where in the first half of 2025, about 21 exits were recorded in the African startup space.

This is quite impressive considering that H1 2025 has witnessed roughly as many exits as full-year 2023 (20) and 2024 (22). Indeed, June 2025 alone witnessed six exits, the highest monthly exits recorded since 2022 in the midst of the funding heatwave.