2017 was the best year as far as the Africa tech revolution was concerned, as investment in tech start-ups topped US$195 million over the course of the year.
The number of tech starts ups that received funding has increase from 125 in 2015 to 146 in 2016 and 159 in 2017; this means Investor confidence and willingness to back African tech ventures is increasing.
The total funding raised by these companies – US$195,060,845 – also marks a 51% rise on the previous year’s figures, taking investment into African start-ups to an all-time record high. This proves that the speculation on African tech starts ups is real and not just hype and is impacting all aspects of daily life and service delivery.
Tech starts up are coming in all fields from healthcare to home cleaning; but it is the fintech companies that received the best funding as seen since last 3 years. A few other sectors also saw success in 2017. Ecommerce for example grew 350% on the previous year to collect over US$16 million in investment over the course of the year.
Agriculture and farming being big in Africa, there has been investment in agri-tech space, with growth of 203% in 2017. Agri-tech and e-health being are also interesting for investors due to the scope and need of innovative new solutions, and the substantial impact element of ventures operating in these areas, these investments offer both sizeable returns and impact.
South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya continued to solidify their position as the top three investment destinations in Africa, but there was also interest in Egypt, Ghana, Uganda and Morocco.
Africa’s tech ecosystem is bound to create a trend which will continue to develop as the continent carries on presenting high quality innovations and businesses, tackling Africa’s challenges, but also scalable across the world.
Talent is a top priority for all start-up founders and executives. Starts up need to hire recruitment agencies with executive search teams who know the hiring needs of an entrepreneurial venture. Start-ups should recruit highly motivated, self-starting, hardworking candidates, quick thinking candidates with good execution skills who share a common vision and are interested in a job in a start-up.