African startups raised roughly $545 million in January 2023; by January 2024, that had fallen to $83 million, an 84.8% year-on-year collapse, even accounting for one outsized acquisition that turns the prior-year number. The first half of 2024 brought in just $780 million across the whole continent, the weakest half-year since late 2020 and a 57% drop from the same period in 2023.
Startup Graveyard Africa's 2024 report found that 58% of startup deaths came down to one cause: the company could not raise again. Unlike founders in the US or Europe, where a lead investor dropping out can often be replaced, African founders frequently had one or two possible backers for a round, and losing either one was fatal.
