African startups raised $1.44bn during the first half of this year, marginally surpassing the $1.42bn secured in H1 2025, as investors concentrated capital in fewer but significantly larger funding rounds despite a subdued global venture capital market.

H1 2026 funding data show startups completed 146 disclosed funding rounds, down sharply from 252 a year earlier, highlighting a shift towards larger, more selective investments in companies with proven business models and stronger revenue prospects, according to an analysis by TechCabal.

Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya and South Africa continued to account for the bulk of disclosed funding, although climate technology and mobility companies increasingly attracted investment across a wider range of markets across the continent.

H1 2026 was boosted by a series of large transactions, most notably pan-African electric mobility company Spiro, which announced a $215mn equity round on June 1, helping push total funding above the previous year's level. A few weeks later, Sprio secured an additional $55mn equity investment from Chinese venture capital firm NewTrails Capital, lifting its latest funding round to $270mn and bringing total disclosed funding to approximately $557mn.

Co-founded in 2022 by chairman Gagan Gupta, Spiro develops electric motorcycles and battery-swapping infrastructure aimed primarily at commercial transport operators. The company says it has deployed more than 100,000 electric vehicles and established over 2,500 battery-swapping stations across seven African countries. Investors include Impact Fund Denmark, Equitane, FEDA, Nithio, Afreximbank and the Africa Go Green Fund.

Funding was broadly evenly distributed across the two quarters, according to TechCabal, with startups raising $749mn in the first quarter and $692mn in the second. The composition of funding also reflected changing investor preferences. Companies secured $818mn in equity financing, $614mn in debt financing and $9mn in grants during the six-month period, underscoring the growing importance of debt capital for businesses with established cash flows and asset-heavy business models.

Climate tech, fintech and AI dominate funding

Climate technology, electric mobility and financial technology continued to dominate larger transactions. Besides Spiro's fundraising, Egyptian digital lending platform Blnk raised $37.1mn, comprising $12.5mn in Series A equity and $24.6mn in debt financing. Morocco-based property technology company Agenz secured $5mn to expand its AI-based platform, while South African electric vehicle charging company Zimi Charge raised $2.6mn. Artificial intelligence startup AethexAI completed a $3mn pre-seed round to expand customer service solutions for African and Middle Eastern markets.

Agenz said the investment was co-led by Breega, Attijariwafa Ventures, the VC arm of Morocco's Attijariwafa Bank, and Africa-focused VC Saviu Ventures, as confidence in platforms modernising real estate in Morocco and the wider region rises. Zimi’s funding round was led by the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), with participation from local VC firm Keyo Ventures and a group of angel investors. The investment will be used to accelerate the deployment of EV infrastructure across South Africa, with Zimi aiming to install about 200 charging stations and support the rollout of roughly 2,000 EVs over the next 18 months.

AethexAI’s funding round was led by Africa-focused VC firm 4DX Ventures, with participation from Enza Capital, US student-led VC fund Dorm Room Fund, early-stage VC firm Mojo Ventures and Stanford Graduate School of Business 26 Fund. The startup also attracted backing from telecommunications executives and artificial intelligence researchers from Anthropic. AethexAI develops voice AI systems designed for customer service, debt collection, customer activation and know-your-customer (KYC) verification processes. It is also launching application programming interfaces (APIs) and software development kits (SDKs).

Record M&A activity signals ecosystem consolidation

H1 2026 also saw a sharp acceleration in mergers and acquisitions as tighter funding conditions encouraged consolidation. A total of 63 M&A transactions were recorded, compared with 33 during the first six months of 2025, making it the busiest half-year for acquisitions in the African technology sector on record.

Payments remained one of the most active sectors for consolidation. Nigeria-based Flutterwave, Africa’s largest privately held fintech company, acquired open banking platform Mono in a reported $35mn all-stock transaction, while Paystack, owned by Stripe, acquired Nigeria’s struggling business banking startup Brass and integrated Ladder Microfinance Bank.

Expansion beyond Africa also gathered pace, with Spiro acquiring UK electric mobility engineering company Coexlion for an undisclosed sum; Nigerian fintech Nomba – which positions itself between the corporate-focused banking sector and the mobile money operators that handle daily retail transactions – purchasing a Canadian payments company; and Algerian super-app Yassir acquiring French advertising technology startup Kawarizmi.

Large corporate acquisitions also highlighted growing international interest in African technology companies. US financial software provider nCino (NASDAQ: NCNO) agreed to acquire South African compliance software company DocFox for $75mn, while UAE-based healthcare technology company MNDR announced a $119mn acquisition of African insurtech pioneer Bima.

Investors favour scale over rapid expansion

The figures compiled by TechCabal suggest Africa's startup ecosystem is entering a more mature phase in which investors are prioritising scale, profitability and consolidation over rapid expansion. While early-stage fundraising remains challenging, larger growth companies continue to attract capital, particularly in sectors linked to financial services, clean energy, artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure.