In 2016 Zimbabwean tech startups secured over US$1.2 million in investment and the country was ranked as the 7th most popular destination in Africa in terms of total funding for tech startups.
This information was shared in the Disrupt Africa African Tech Startups Funding Report for 2016. This annual report documents tech startup investments across Africa, detailing the funding round (the investment stage), amounts, investors and the work done by the startups.
Disrupt Africa‘s report also provided data on 2016’s startup acquisitions and the information gathered from surveys on African entrepreneur and investor community preferences.
According to the report, African tech startups raised funding in excess of US$129 million in 2016, while the number of startups that secured funding went up by 16.8% in comparison to 2015 figures.
There was significant growth in the number of startups securing investment compared to 2015 numbers. However, the overall total amount of funding recorded declined.
According to Tom Jackson, co-founder of Disrupt Africa,
The general theme of 2016 has been more rounds, but with fewer standout tickets than in 2015. The African tech space has not been immune to the economic pressures faced by other sectors, but it is proving extremely resilient. The fact more startups raised funding in 2016 than ever before demonstrates the vitality of this sector, and we expect investor interest to grow and grow over the course of 2017.
Of the nine sectors analysed in the report, the fintech sector received the most backing in 2016, with startups in this space raising a combined US$31.4 million.
South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya the continent’s 3 traditional anchor markets for tech startup investment were once again Africa’s most popular investment destinations. They registered 80.3% of all funding secured in 2016.
Investment in Egypt tech startups more than doubled during the year and it is now the fourth-ranked destination.
Zimbabwe’s own growth in investments, up from just one angel investment round in 2015, was recorded from three startups – Zazu which an agri-tech startup which provides a digital marketplace linking farmers and buyers; Esaja.com which is a Pan African B2B marketplace for intra-continent trade and BitFinance a crypto-currency startup with a Bitcoin exchange.
2 comments
You didn’t mention that the Report is for sale.
ZAZU seems to be a South African based start-up. Correct me if I’m wrong, does it mean that the 3 start-ups listed account for the $1.2 million investment in Zimbabwe? If so, maybe it would be nice to put the investment amounts against each start-up, because two of them look like nothing has changed regardless of securing investment.