Nigeria has regained its place as Africa’s top destination for startup funding in the first nine months of 2026, attracting $635 million, which is more than double the sum recorded in the same period of 2025.
Data from Africa: The Big Deal, an African startup funding tracker, showed that Nigerian startups raised 2.6 times the $247 million secured between January and September last year. It is the country’s strongest showing for the period since 2022.
The rebound came amid a sharp slowdown in other major African startup markets, including Kenya and South Africa, and a significant shift in investment towards logistics and transport ventures.
Nigeria also recorded the highest number of startups raising at least $100,000, with 77 ventures securing funding, up 10 per cent from 70 in the first nine months of 2025. Excluding pan-African ventures, Nigeria accounted for 37 per cent of the funding raised by country-specific startups across the continent, its highest share since 2021.
A handful of large transactions played a major role in returning Nigeria to the top of the rankings.
Moove, the mobility financing company, which earlier this month announced plans to exit Nigeria, raised $250 million, while fintech company Flutterwave secured $100 million.
E-commerce platform Jumia raised $50 million, and cryptocurrency infrastructure company Yellow Card attracted $40 million.
Together, the four companies accounted for $440 million, or about 69 per cent of Nigeria’s $635 million in startup funding for the period.
However, Nigeria’s performance went beyond these large deals, as the country recorded more startups raising at least $100,000 than any other African market.
Across the continent, logistics and transport became the largest startup funding category by value, overtaking fintech, which had led the sector for most of the past seven years.
According to the report, logistics and transport startups raised $780 million between January and September 2026, representing 36 per cent of total funding, compared with $760 million, or 35 per cent, for fintech.
The sector’s share was a record, up from just 7 per cent in the same period of 2025. Its previous high for the first nine months of a year was 17 per cent, recorded in 2019.
The shift was largely driven by two companies, Spiro and Moove, which raised $345 million and $250 million, respectively. Their combined $595 million accounted for roughly 76 per cent of the sector’s total funding.
Fintech nonetheless kept its lead in the number of funded ventures, with 80 startups raising at least $100,000 during the period.
Nigeria’s resurgence contrasted with weaker showings in two other major African startup markets.
Egypt remained relatively stable, attracting $445 million in startup funding, a 10 per cent increase from the corresponding period of 2025.
Kenya raised $201 million, down 73 per cent year-on-year, while South Africa secured $182 million, a 58 per cent decline.
Kenya’s figures were partly affected by the classification of Spiro, which operates extensively in the country but is now categorised as a pan-African venture in the report’s database. Despite this adjustment, Kenya’s fundraising remained significantly below its 2025 level.
The number of startups raising at least $100,000 also fell across the three markets. Kenya recorded 45 ventures, down 32 per cent year-on-year, while Egypt had 40, a 29 per cent decline. South Africa recorded 34, down 36 per cent.
The counts for Kenya and South Africa were their lowest for the first nine months of a year since Africa: The Big Deal began tracking deals of at least $100,000 in 2021.
Together, Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya and South Africa continued to dominate African startup financing, accounting for 85 per cent of funding raised by country-specific startups, excluding pan-African ventures. This was up from 83 per cent in the same period of 2025.
Nigeria lost the top position in startup funding in Africa to Kenya in 2023 and has since trailed among the big four.
For that year, Nigerian startups raised a total of $410 million, less than half of what they raised in 2022 and 2021, while Kenyan startups topped the table with $800 million.
In 2024, Nigeria still trailed Kenya, raising only about $400 million despite two big tickets secured by Moove and Moniepoint.
The pattern remained unchanged in 2025, with Nigerian startups raising a total of $442.8 million for the year. With $635 million already raised in the first nine months of 2026, Nigerian startups have surpassed the 2025 full-year record and are on course to top the African startup funding table this year.
