German investment company DEG (Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft) and Launch Africa have emerged as the most active investors in Africa's startup ecosystem between January and September 2026, according to data from Africa: The Big Deal.

DEG, German development finance institution and a subsidiary of the KfW Group that finances and advises private-sector companies, financial institutions, and venture and equity funds in developing and emerging markets, took part in more than 25 funding rounds across the continent in the first nine months of the year. The company maintains offices in Nairobi, Lagos, Abidjan and Johannesburg.

The rankings follow a TechNext24 report that equity funding hit a new four-year high as African startups raised $797 million in the third quarter of 2026.

Launch Africa followed closely behind with participation in at least 21 funding rounds across the continent. Trailing them are Co-Creation Hub (CcHUB) and Mastercard, which each took part in more than 12 rounds, and Digital Africa, which participated in roughly 11. Taken together, the five most active names account for more than 80 round participations in nine months, a heavy concentration of the continent's deal-making activity.

The activity comes as the pool of investors funding African startups continues to shrink in 2026. About 334 individual investors backed ventures across the continent, each taking part in at least one funding round valued at $100,000 or more. While a notable figure given the prevalence of larger rounds in the first nine months of the year, it represents a decline from the 408 investors that participated between January and September 2025, a difference of 18.1%.

Fewer investors, smaller rounds

The shrinking investor base has been matched by a commensurate decline in the number of startups raising capital. Some 311 startups have announced funding rounds on the continent, down from 381 in the same period of 2025, an 18.3% decline that closely mirrors the drop in investors. It is also the lowest number of startups receiving capital since 2021, below even the 360 recorded in the same period of 2023, when startup funding was at its scarcest.

A major consequence is that early-stage startups are being starved of much-needed funds, as much of the decline occurs at the bottom of the market. The number of startups raising between $100,000 and $1 million fell from 220 in the first nine months of 2025 to 171 in the same period of 2026, a 22.2% decline that is again the lowest since 2021. That means 140 ventures raised more than $1 million in the first nine months of 2026, down more than 13% from 161 in the same period of 2025. That split mirrors the four-year funding high reported for the third quarter, with the dollars that did flow increasingly concentrated in fewer, larger rounds rather than spread across the early market.

"In other words, it is getting harder to raise a first cheque, while those who make it to the larger rounds don't find it so hard," said Max Cuvellier of The Big Deal.

Investor turnout at multi-year low

African startup funding is seeing its lowest turnout of investors since 2021, when 623 investors took part in venture funding. The number climbed to 829 in 2022, at the peak of the funding heatwave, before declining steadily, first to 505 in 2023, then to 424 in 2024 at the height of the funding winter, and further to 408 in 2025, when venture funding rebounded.

The broader picture is that fewer investors are backing African startups. The bigger story, however, is that those who remain are demonstrating stronger conviction through repeat participation. Of the 334 investors active in 2026, 91, or 27.2%, have participated in more than one round. The remaining 243 took part in a single round each, underscoring how much of the market's activity now rests on a narrow core of repeat backers. That repeat rate is higher than the 23.1% recorded in 2024 and in the same range as the 28.5% in 2023 and the 28.7% in 2021, both years with nearly double 2026's total investor count. Only 2025, at 32.3%, and 2022, at 31.2%, posted significantly higher repeat-investor rates, and both are regarded as the two best years for startup funding in overall terms.

With the rankings covering only the first nine months of the year, the fourth quarter will show whether the investor count stabilizes at its lowest level since 2021 — and whether the repeat-backer core keeps carrying an outsized share of the continent's deal flow.

The data was compiled by Africa: The Big Deal and first reported by TechNext24.