African startups raised an impressive $420 million in July 2024, the highest monthly fundraising performance in over a year, according to a recent report by Africa: The Big Deal. The ecosystem has now raised over $1.2b since the beginning of the year.
This feat is more than the total funds raised in the entire second quarter and is 2.5 times the average monthly amount raised over the past 12 months. The increase in fundraising makes July 2024 the best month on record since tracking began in 2019. Despite hitting the $1 billion funding mark in July, it has been the slowest pace in recent years.
In July, 47 ventures raised at least $100,000, making it the second-best month this year after May, when 40 grant announcements were made by organizations such as DEG, CCHub, and iHub. Out of these 47 ventures, 16 raised at least $1 million, which aligns with the monthly average for the first half of the year.
The numbers were heavily skewed by the two mega deals announced during the month: d.light, a solar energy company, secured a new $176 million securitization facility, and MNT-Halan, a microfinance lending and payment company, raised $157.5 million to support their expansion.
NALA’s $40 million Series A is also notable. Combined, these three deals represent 90% of the total funding raised in July.
This impressive monthly performance not only allowed the ecosystem to comfortably surpass the $1 billion mark in funding raised in 2024, reaching $1.2 billion, but also to exceed the amount raised in 2020. With this momentum, the next milestone of $1.4 billion raised in 2019 is now within reach.
