A look at the 'Big Four' countries in African startup investment in 2022

In 2022, venture capital investment in Africa took off to a strong start, quickly shadowing numbers in the same period from the previous year, which was in itself a huge improvement for Africa.

Bracing through the economic downturn and slowdown in global venture funding that has ravaged other regions, with Asia, Europe, North America and Latin America all seeing a decline in venture investments, the continent has been identified as one of the world’s fastest-growing startup regions.

However, the global slowdown in venture capital funding eventually caught up to the investment landscape in Africa in the third quarter of 2022, as investments saw a 53% decline YoY and a 34% decline QoQ in the third quarter of 2022.

In the first half of 2022, Africa had recorded $3.5 billion dollar in total funding, more than double of total funding investment in the same period in 2021, and the years prior. By the end of the 3rd quarter, it had reached 127% of the amount raised in the same period in 2021 and 87% of the total funding in 2021.

Between January and October 2022, venture capital funding in Africa stood at 126% growth compared to January and October 2021 and 92% (2021 in full). However, the combined continent-level figure clouds the actual performance of specific regions in Africa.

Let's do a deep dive into how this number reflects in the different African regions.