Flutterwave, Four Other Tech startup Companies that Struck the Biggest Deals in 2022
- The year 2022 for Nigeria startups has been another year of million-dollar deals with global investors
- The money were raised from both local and foreign and represents some of the biggest deals in Africa
- Out of the deals, five stand out led by Flutterwave which raised over $200 million from investors
Once again, Nigerian startups especially players in the tech ecosystem have a lot to be thankful for in 2022 as both local and foreign investors bet on their ideas.
Data shows that the amount of money invested in Nigerian startups in 2022 was 27.4%% ($967.2 million) of the total $3.6 billion raised by African startups in venture capital in 2022.
The Nigeriancompanies that secured the most significant funding tickets include Flutterwave, Interswitch, Moore, TeamApt, and Ventures Platform.
Source: Getty Images
The top startup deals in Nigeria
Flutterwave $250m(N111.8bn)
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Nigeria’s fintech unicorn Flutterwave led the table after raising over $250 million in 2022.
This happened in February 2022 after it closed a $250 million Series D round
It was temporarily the largest Series D round by an African tech company before Kenyan-based startup Sun King displaced it by closing a $260 million Series D round.
Nonetheless, it catapulted Flutterwave to the position of the most valuable startup in Africa with a $3 billion valuation.
Flutterwave funding was led by B Capital Group, a US private equity company. Other participants include Altak Park Capital (US hedge fund), Whake Rock Capital (US venture capital firm), and Lux Capital (US venture capital firm), among others.
Interswitch $110m(N49.23bn)
In May, Interswitch investors including Helios, Visa, and others decided to sell down 15 percent of their total holdings in the company worth $110 million to Leapfrog Investments and Tana Africa Capital.
Leapfrog Investments is a South African-based private equity firm founded by Andrew Kuper and Jim Roth.
According to the company, the selldown is to expand the investor base and not a loss of confidence by the private equity firm Helios.
Moove’s equity $105m(N47bn)
Moove, which prides itself as the world’s first mobility fintech, raised $105 million in an oversubscribed Series A2 round consisting of equity and debt.
The funding was led by existing investors, Speedinvest, Left Lane Capital, and the latest. ventures, with participation from new investors including AfricInvest, MUFG Innovation Partners, Latitude, and Kreos Capital.
Speedinvest is a Vienna, Austria-based venture capital firm, while Left Lane Capital is a US-based venture capital firm.
TeamApt’s $50m(N22.3bn)
TeamApt’s more than $50 million pre-Series C round in March was led by QED Investors, a U.S. fintech-focused venture capital firm. Existing investors from TeamApt’s Series B last year, Novastar Ventures (co-lead), Lightrock, and Bil also participated in this round.
Ventures Platform’s $40m(N17.9bn)
Venture Platform announced in December the final close of its early-stage and intercontinental fund at $46 million, surpassing its initial $40 million target.
The oversubscribed fund sees new participation from global investors cutting across commercial banks, corporates, DFIs, global institutional investors, and High Net-worth Individuals (HNIs).
These include Standard Bank (South Africa); International Finance Corporation (IFC); British International Investment; A to Z Impac (US)t; Proparco with FISEA (France); AfricaGrow, a fund of funds backed by BMZ (German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, DEG and Allianz, managed by Allianz Global Investors), and others.
How Nigerian Startup performance compared to rest of Africa
As ealier mentioned, BD reports that Nigerian startups accounted for 27.4% ($967.2 million) of the total funding received in Africa.
This is followed by Kenya, Egypt and South Africa followed with 26.5% ($936.3 million), 15.3% ($541 million) and 8.9% ($315 million).
The big four countries retained their title as the top funding destination, accounting for 78.1% of the total funding.
Source: Legit.ng
