Funding: 32 African startups raised $110m in April, the lowest in 12 months

Venture funding into African startups witnessed a dip in April as ventures across the continent raised a combined $110 million during the month. This is according to data from the African venture funding analytics platform, Africa the Big Deal.

According to it, the monthly total is well below the previous 12-month average of $275 million.

April’s total represents a dip from the previous month when startups raised $151 million, a 27.1 per cent drop. It is also the lowest monthly fundraise recorded this year so far: African startups raised a $272 million in February and a total of $174 million in January.

Indeed, the April funding is the lowest over the last 12 months (May 2025 to April 2026) and is the lowest month on record since March 2025 when startups around the continent raised $50 million.

This is still considered one of the poorest months on record, and not even during the funding winter did monthly venture funding decline that much.

Interestingly, more startups (32) announced funding during the month. This is a 45.5 per cent increase compared to March, when 22 startups raised. Indeed, aside from February, when 40 startups announced funding, no other month has seen more than 26 startups raising funding in January.

This is quite important as there has been an overwhelming decline in the number of startups getting investments despite the sum of investments witnessing an uptick.

Over the past 12 months, only 130 early-stage startups have announced funding of between $100,000 and $500,000 in equity. This also represents the lowest level over the past 12 months, since at least 2021.

Egypt’s Lucky leads April funding

As has been the case this year, venture funding for the month was largely driven by a few large rounds. Egyptian consumer credit startup, Lucky, raised the largest of these rounds, securing $23 million in Series B funding to expand across North Africa and develop new banking services.

The funding round combined equity and debt financing from existing and new investors, including Disruptech Ventures, DPI Venture Capital through the Nclude fund, Suez Canal Bank, and investment firm OneStop. Mohamed Farouk, chairman of OneStop, joined Lucky’s board as the new chairman.

With the new funding, the startup aims to grow its consumer credit business and enter new markets in North Africa.

Togo’s Gozem has featured prominently in recent months and likewise in April, raising $24.5 million in debt financing from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to scale its vehicle financing arm, Gozem Financing. This comes roughly a year after the company closed a $30 million Series B round.

The investment will be used exclusively for fleet expansion across four target markets — Benin, Cameroon, the Republic of Congo and Togo — over three years from 2026 to 2028.

Next is Victory Farms, a tilapia-producing agritech company that raised $15 million in debt financing. The funding is a follow-on investment from specialist African agriculture investor, AgDevCo. The financing will support the startup’s next phase of growth, including the development of multiple new farming sites in Kenya and Rwanda.

Next is the Ethiopian electric mobility startup, Dodai, which raised $13 million in Series A financing. The investment comprised $8 million in equity and $5 million in debt. The round was backed by British International Investment and a consortium of Japanese investors, including Value Chain Innovation Fund, UTokyo Innovation Platform Co., Ltd., Nagase & Co., Ltd., Persistent ACV Fund, For Seasons, CBC Co., Ltd., and Inclusion Japan.

Dodai is an infrastructure company that sells vehicles. The startup assembles electric motorcycles locally at its Addis Ababa facility and feeds them into a proprietary battery-swapping network. Instead of waiting hours for a battery to charge, riders pull up to a station and exchange a depleted battery for a fully charged one in minutes.

Dodai’s investment underscores growing international appetite for Africa’s nascent e-mobility infrastructure.