Digest Africa Releases H1 2020 Report with Crunchbase

Digest Africa – provider of news, data, insights and analysis on the African startup ecosystem – is proud to announce a partnership with Crunchbase and to bring you our H1 report, breaking down highlights and funding trends on the continent for H1 2020. Our data collaboration with Crunchbase will result in more data-intensive reports and insights, tapping into the natural synergy between our two companies and multiple markets.

Funding for African Startups in H1 2020

The first half of 2020 has been a roller coaster for the continent of Africa. For funding raised, H1 2020 saw $370.5M across 149 rounds compared to $486M across 193 deals of H1 2019 – a significant drop of 24%. On a positive note, February 2020 recorded $124.7M across 34 deals, which is 226.4% more than $38.2M raised across 22 deals in February 2019.

Investors, Funds, and Exits

Investors: Y Combinator invested in 12 Africa-based startups, making it the top investor of H1. MasterCard Foundation participated in 11 rounds. Other top investors based on the number of investments made for the half include: Founders Factory Africa (9 deals), Villgro Kenya (9 deals) Flat6Labs (8 deals) and Ventures Platform (7 deals).

Funds: $672M in total was raised across 7 funds by GPs, the largest fund being Accion Quona Inclusion Fund managed by Accion with additional investment from Quona Capital and other undisclosed LPs. Novastar Ventures also raised a hefty $108M for the Novastar Ventures Fund Africa II, followed by the $105M I&P Afrique Entrepreneurs 2 Fund by GP Investisseurs & Partenaires.

Exits: UK-based Circle Gas acquired Tanzanian KopaGas for $25M, the only disclosed acquisition for the month.