Nigerian startups have raised $635 million between January and September 2026, according to data from Africa: The Big Deal, in what appears to be a resurgence for the country's venture ecosystem. The total marks a vast improvement on the $247 million secured during the same period in 2025, representing a 157 per cent increase, and once again places Nigeria as the continent's top destination for venture funding — well ahead of Kenya, which has occupied the top spot for the past two years.

The rebound was driven by two mega rounds and several large deals. The largest of these came from Moove, the e-mobility startup, which raised $250 million in a Series C funding round, lifting its valuation to $2.1 billion. Flutterwave became the second Nigerian startup to attract a mega round in 2026, after the leading payments infrastructure company secured a strategic $100 million investment from Ripple as part of a Series E funding round that values the company at $3.2 billion. Together, those two rounds amount to $350 million, meaning more than half of Nigeria's nine-month total traces back to just two transactions.

Jumia, the e-commerce startup that has managed an impressive turnaround in its fortunes, also contributed heavily to the total. The company secured $50 million in equity funding to support its operations while striving to expand its marketplace and avoid the excessive spending that characterised its earlier years. Yellow Card, meanwhile, closed a $40 million strategic funding round to scale Global USD Accounts, its end-to-end dollar account for businesses, and to expand the stablecoin rails connecting it to markets worldwide.

Behind Nigeria sits Egypt, where startups have raised $445 million, representing a 10 per cent increase from the $404.5 million recorded during the same period the previous year.

Kenya, by contrast, endured a troubling drought in venture funding. Startups in the East African country attracted $201 million during the first nine months of 2026 — a significant 73 per cent drop from the $744.4 million raised during the first nine months of 2025, and the lowest total recorded in the country since 2020. The decline is connected to a drop in investments into energy startups, which had driven funding into Kenya over the last few years — a swing illustrates how closely a national total can track the fortunes of a single dominant sector.

South Africa emerged as the least funded of the Big Four African ecosystems, with startups in the country raising $182 million. That represents a 58 per cent drop from the $433.3 million secured in the same period last year.

Taken together, Africa's Big Four — Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya and South Africa — continue to dominate the continent's venture funding space, controlling 85 per cent of startup investments. That is an impressive rise from the 83 per cent share attracted in 2025, and it sits well within the 78-89 per cent range that has been recorded every year since 2019. Notably, Nigeria's $635 million exceeds Kenya and South Africa's combined $383 million, while the Big Four's dominant share leaves every other ecosystem on the continent to divide the remainder. With October to December still to be tallied, the fourth quarter will settle the full-year standings — and show whether investment into Kenyan energy startups, the sector behind the country's recent funding runs, picks back up.

Nigeria Leads in the Number of Venture Funding Deals

Beyond the major rounds, 77 other Nigerian startups that recorded at least $100,000 in funding contributed to the country's impressive run in 2026, up from the 70 recorded in the same period last year. Nigeria was the only country among the Big Four to register an increase in the number of ventures that attracted funding, indicating that the recovery extended past the headline mega rounds into a broader base of the ecosystem.

In Kenya, 45 startups announced funding, a 32 per cent drop. Egypt recorded 40 rounds, down 29 per cent, while South Africa logged 34 rounds, representing a 36 per cent year-over-year decline. Both Kenya and South Africa posted their lowest Q1-Q3 tallies since 2021.

Outside the Big Four, several other countries attracted significant venture funding during the first nine months of the year. In Tanzania, startups raised $53 million, mostly due to NALA's $50 million debt raise, while startups in the West African country of Côte d'Ivoire raised $48 million, largely from GoCab's $45 million raise.

Elsewhere, startups in Zambia, including Lupiya, BioLite and Africa GreenCo, raised a combined $32 million. Startups in Morocco and Ghana raised $30 million and $21 million respectively, while Senegal attracted just $5 million after raising $153 million during the same period last year.