Kenyan startups raised a record Sh71.85 billion last year as investment into the African tech startup ecosystem passed the US$3 billion mark for the first time in 2022, with the space withstanding global economic headwinds to post a record year as 633 startups raised funding.
Latest data from Disrupt Africa, an online news platform for startups, shows that funding directed to Kenya increased from Sh36.49 billion in 2021, to Sh71.85 billion in 2022, representing a 96.9 percent jump.
Fintech led with the number of deals at 26 (28.6 percent) with retail tech 16 (17.6 percent). At least 308 tech start-ups were in operation across Kenya as of November 2022, employing more than 11,000 people between them.
Fintech is the most populated sub-sector of the Kenyan start-up space in terms of levels of activity with 93 firms, making up 30.2 percent of the country’s ventures cementing its ability to solve fundamental problems at a time tech solutions are received well and quickly adopted.
“However, the total amount of funding Kenyan startups secure yearly is snowballing. The US$574,809,000 raised this year is up 96.9 percent on the 2021 total of US$291,983,000,” The African Tech Startups Funding Report shows.
“That in turn was up 52.6 percent on the year before (US$191,381,000), and 2020’s total was 28.3 percent higher than the preceding year,” the report added.
In Africa, Kenya was ranked third behind Nigeria (122 billion) and Egypt (Sh101.5 billion).
“Ninety-one (91) startups were backed in Kenya (14.4 percent of Africa’s total), and combined they secured US$574,809,000 – 17.2 percent of the continent’s funding,” it added.
“The number of funded startups was up only marginally, by 4.6 percent, in 2021 – as elsewhere on the continent, the growth in the number of startups receiving investment slowed in 2022.”
