Ugandan startups attract $5m funding in 2023 as Kenya leads in Africa

Ugandan startups attracted $5m worth of investments in 2023, a new study shows.

According to data compiled by Africa startups deals database Africa: The Big Deal, some of the startups that attracted funding in 2023 were EzyAgric, an agritech startup and Ridelink, a transport company that secured funding from Google under its initiative dubbed Google for Startups Black Founders Fund.

Others are Laboremus Uganda that has built a KYC platform for banks and fintech companies in Africa, and agritech startup Emata that secured $2.4 million in seed funding to expand its agri-loan offerings across East Africa.

Uganda is dwarfed by Kenya, which, according to the report, attracted the most funding ($880 million in 2023, 28% of the continent’s total. Its share of Eastern Africa’s funding grew from 86% in 2022 to 91% in 2023. 93 start-ups raised $100k or more during the period (19% of Africa’s total).

This was aided by the nearly half a billion dollars raised by Sun King and M-Kopa alone.

  According to the report, in 2023, four countries of Kenya, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa  attracted 87% of all the start-up funding in Africa, their largest share since 2019.

They were home to 71% (357 out of 500) of the start-ups who raised $100k or more on the continent last year.

Overall, 500 start-ups raised at least $100k in Africa in 2023, compared to 821 in 2022 (also -39% YoY).

Egypt attracted $640m worth of investments.  There were 48 such ventures raising $100k+, the lowest number out of the Big Four.

South Africa attracted $600m worth of investments, 21% of the continent’s total, while Nigeria attracted $410m worth of investments in 2023, a huge drop compared to $1.2b in 2022, and $1.7b in 2021.