African startups raised less but survived longer in the last funding cycle

Venture funding across the continent fell again by headline value, but the story underneath the number is not simply one of retreat.

Deal counts held up better than deal values, meaning capital spread across more companies in smaller cheques. Founders who raised in the boom describe a hard reset: growth targets replaced by gross-margin targets, and hiring plans cut by half.

Fintech still takes the largest share, but logistics, climate and health tech grew as a proportion of total rounds. Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt and South Africa continue to absorb the overwhelming majority of dollars — a concentration that regional investors say is slowly loosening.

The more durable shift may be governance. Investors now routinely demand audited accounts and independent board seats at seed stage, a response to a run of high-profile blowups.

"The companies that survived learned to sell before they learned to scale," one Lagos-based partner said. "That is not a bad lesson to be forced into."