• FinTech companies in Africa completed 83 deals in Q1 2022 raising in total $465m. If the next three quarters follow this rate of investment, there will be a 7.9% decrease in total investments compared to last year. Despite this, the African FinTech market has still seen a large increase in interest from investors within the past four years. The 83 transactions completed in the opening quarter are more than a quarter of all deals conducted in 2021. If this trend continues, 2022 will have a 16% increase in deal activity.
• Covid-19 caused a temporary drop in capital raised during 2020, but the market has since recovered and 2021 exceeded the previous year’s funding by 284%. The $2.0bn increase in capital invested shows that VC firms and investors see the potential for high returns that Africa can bring within the FinTech industry. In addition, barriers to entry have decreased for FinTech companies. For example, an article from KPMG states how smart phones are more accessible, giving people the ability to use the software created by FinTech firms. Further, the Central Africa Republic (CAR) recently adopted Bitcoin as a legal form of currency to aid growth in Africa. The use of Bitcoin shows how Africa is making further progress within the FinTech industry and the country is open to adopting the latest innovations.
The data for this research was taken from the FinTech Global database. More in-depth data and analytics on investments and companies across all FinTech sectors and regions around the world are available to subscribers of FinTech Global. ©2022 FinTech Global
