DEG, Launch Africa, CcHUB emerge the most active of 334 African startup investors in 2026

German investment company DEG (Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft) and Launch Africa have emerged as the most active investors in the African startup ecosystem between January and September 2026.

According to data from Africa the Big Deal, DEG, the German development finance institution and a subsidiary of the KfW Group that finances and advises private-sector companies, financial institutions, and venture/equity funds in developing and emerging markets, has participated in more than 25 funding rounds across the continent in the first nine months of the year. The company has offices in Nairobi, Lagos, Abidjan and Johannesburg.

Read also: Equity funding hits new 4-year high as African startups raise $797m in Q3 2026

Following closely behind is Launch Africa, which has participated in at least 21 funding rounds across the continent. Behind them are Co-Creation Hub and Mastercard, which have each participated in over 12 funding rounds, and finally, Digital Africa, which has about 11 rounds in its bag.

This comes as the number of investors funding African startups appears to be dropping in 2026, with about 334 individual investors backing ventures across the continent. These investors participated in at least one funding round valued at $100,000 or more.

While this is impressive given the prevalence of larger rounds in the first nine months of the year, it nonetheless represents a decline from the 408 investors that participated in rounds between January and September 2025, an 18.1 per cent difference.

Fewer investors, smaller rounds

The decline in investor numbers is also leading to a commensurate decline in the number of startups getting funds. 311startups have announced funding rounds on the continent, lower than 381 recorded during the same period in 2025. This represents an 18.3 per cent decline, quite commensurate with the reduction rate of investors.

Indeed, it also represents the lowest number of startups receiving capital since 2021, lower than even the 360 recorded in the same period in 2023, a period when startup funding was at its scarcest.

One major consequence of the decline in the number of ventures getting funding is that early-stage startups are starved of much-needed funds, as much of the drop in ventures getting funding happens at the bottom. Indeed, the number of startups raising between $100,000 and $1 million fell from 220 in the first nine months of 2025 to 171 in the same period in 2026. This represents a 22.2 per cent decline, again the lowest since 2021.

This means 140 ventures raised over $1 million in the first nine months of 2026, a more than 13 per cent drop from 161 in the same period in 2025.

“In other words, it is getting harder to raise a first cheque, while those who make it to the larger rounds don’t find it so hard,” Max Cuvellier of The Big Deal said.

Indeed, African startup funding is witnessing the lowest turnout of investors since 2021, when 623 investors took part in venture funding. The number of investors rose to 829 in 2022, at the peak of the funding heatwave, before witnessing a steady decline, first to 505 in 2023, then to 424 in 2024 at the height of the funding winter, before dropping further to 408 in 2025, when venture funding rebounded.

The overall story is that fewer investors are putting their faith in African startups. But the bigger story is that these investors are demonstrating stronger faith backed by repeat participations. For instance, 91 of the 334 investors in 2026, representing 27.2 per cent, have participated in more than one round. This is higher than 23.1% in 2024 and in the same range as 28.5 per cent in 2023 and 28.7 per cent in 2021, both with nearly double the total investor size of 2026.

Only 2025, with 32.3 per cent, and 2022, with 31.2 per cent, have significantly higher rates of repeat investors, and both years are considered the best two years in startup funding in overall terms.