39 African startups raised $343m in April as 2025 funding hits $803 million

Venture funding into African startups enjoyed a major boost in April 2025, as startups across the continent raised a total of $343 million during the month. This was disclosed in a report by African startup funding analytics company, Africa the Big Deal. This represents a colossal improvement from the discouraging month of March, when startups were only able to raise $5o million, representing a 586 per cent increase.

The April 2025 tally also represents an impressive 357.3 per cent increase from the $75 million attracted to the continent in April 2024. Indeed, the $343 million raised last month means April 2025 is the second-best April on record in terms of funding, bested only by April of 2022, which was during the funding boom across the continent.

“That’s not just a solid rebound from a disappointing March: it is the second-best April on record, beaten only by the wild funding heatwave days of April 2022. Compared to last year, the difference is striking: funding is up 4.5x from April 2024. A clear sign that investors, though still cautious, remain confident in the potential of the continent,” the report noted.

Per the report, the rebound in April was powered by 39 startups that raised $100,000 or more, in the form of equity, debts and grants and excluding exits. This is lower than the monthly average of 44 over the past 12 months, and might indicate that investors, in their bid to proceed cautiously, are going for more mature and trusted startups. This is further butressed by the number of large deals recorded in the month.

With the African startup funding space recording an impressive April, it means startups across the continent have so far raised $803 million in 2025. This represents a 43 per cent increase from the $563 million raised in the same period last year (2024). The total number of startups that have received funding in 2025 so far (163) is also superior than the same period in 2024 (147) indicating that more startups are getting funded.

See also: African startups raised $50 million in March, lowest since 2020

Furthermore, at least 225 unique investors have already been involved in a $100k+ deal in 2025 so far, per the report.

South African startups lead April funding as Nigeria, Kenya missing

South Africa and Egypt, usually considered the lesser of the Big 4, appear to have been at the fore in April 2025, with funding powered by large rounds in both countries. Leading the pack is hearX, a Pretoria-based healthtech that provides affordable access to hearing care through smart, digital health solutions

In what was the first mega deal of 2025 so far, the startup secured $100m through its merger with U.S.-based Eargo, a bold cross-continent move that signals major ambition in disrupting the hearing health market. Founded in 2015 by Nic Klopper, hearX’s has a mission to tackle the global hearing crisis by developing solutions that could be deployed on smartphones, lowering the barrier to access to diagnostics and treatment.

We go north to Egypt for the next largest deal in April as the Islamic fintech platform, Bokra, raised $59 million through a sukuk issuance backed by Aman Holding. The bond aims to help finance credit to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the country. The raise came just a year after announcing a $4.6 million in a pre-seed round in 2024.

South African payments infrastructure startup, Stitch secured the third largest deal in April with a $55 million raise from existing investors as it doubles down on building end-to-end payment solutions across the continent.

“This is the kind of momentum we like to see in the ecosystem. Not just more money, but more breadth. More signals that this isn’t just a one-off bounce but the early stages of a more stable recovery. Sure, it’s still early — one or two hot months don’t make a full year. But if this pace keeps up, 2025 could well be a good year,” the report stated.