• African startups under cleantech lead in attracting financing with two massive funding deals sealed by Sun King and d.light.
  • FinTech follows in funding volume reported, while African startups with a focus on big data and analytics are equally gaining momentum.
  • Across July, six acquisitions were recorded in the industry, including Meta’s buyout of Egyptian AI startup PlayAI, reflecting the highest mergers and acquisitions activity so far this year.

Startups in Africa attracted over $2 billion in fresh capital injection in seven months to July, 2025, with enterprises in clean teach taking the lions share, a new report by startup financing tracker Briter Eye shows.

According to the update, the financing received by African startups between January and July is almost the same to what new and upcoming businesses received during similar period in 2024.

“July alone accounted for more than $570 million across 60+ deals, representing nearly a quarter of all capital raised so far this year, a 50 percent increase compared to July 2024,” Briter Eye analysis states in part.

Clean energy financing accounted for 80 per cent of the entire financing in July following the closure of $100 million in debt facility deals secured from solar energy players d.light and Sun King.

According to Briter Eye, d.light and Sun King financing highlights the increasing role of various debt instruments in the industry in powering the growth of “asset-heavy climatech solutions in Africa.”

According to Launch Base Africa, Sun King transaction amounting to approximately $156 million was backed by a consortium of local and international institutions including Kenya’s KCB Bank and Co-op Bank, alongside UK’s BII and Norway’s Norfund, indicating that African startups scene is evolving to a maturing market where enterprises are pivoting on complex debt instruments to accelerate growth.

During the seven-month season under review, financing deals ranging between $1 million and $5 million also emerged as the next big thing, the survey shows.

For instance, Morocco-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) outfit ZeroEntropy, which focuses on enhancing data retrieval for gen AI applications reported raising over $4 million to improve existing LLMs through their specialized search systems.

Also coming under this bracket was over $3 million in financing which was secured by Solarise Africa, a company with bold plans to accelerate the pace of solar energy access for businesses in South Africa.

Solarise Africa has been set up as a pan-African energy leasing firm that seeks to light up homes across the continent by leveraging innovative power purchase agreements.

During July, the remainder of the companies attracted $10,000 or less in financing, amounts which were structured as grants. For instance, UNICEF Startup Lab, in collaboration with MEST Africa and KOICA, channeled up to $5,000 in grants to 25 startups in Ghana, a move which largely drove up deal activity in the continent.

Cleantech leads in sector financing

Furthermore, in terms of sector by funding volume, Cleantech leads in attracting capital across African startups, even after excluding the two massive financing arrangements sealed by Sun King and d.light.

Discloures shows that FinTech follows in funding volume reported, while African startups with a focus on big data and analytics are equally gaining momentum, with capital inflow to companies like Cerebrium, Rwazi, and ZeroEntropy, all leveraging AI to build data-driven solutions.

In terms of deal count, AgTech leads the pack, a trend consistent with its typically smaller ticket sizes.

On a regional level, the “Big Four,” that is, Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria and Egypt economies continued to attract the lions share of the financing, with only a few disclosed deals recorded in Morocco, Senegal, and Ghana.

So, who is backing the biggest rounds? Some of the investors behind these major deals include Mirova, Norfund, Stoa, and Standard Bank.

African startups: Mergers and acquisitions

Across July, six acquisitions were recorded in the industry, reflecting the highest mergers and acquisitions activity so far this year. Some of the most outstanding deals were Facebook parent company, Meta’s acquisition of Egyptian AI firm PlayAI.

Founded by Mahmoud Felfel, California-based voice AI startup PlayAI was bought in July by Meta, with the global tech giant claiming the startup’s voice creation platform syncs with Mark Zuckerberg’s growth plan cutting across AI characters, Meta AI, wearables, and audio content creation.

Following the deal, employees of PlayAI are set to join Meta and start reporting to the tech heavyweight’s AI leadership.

Under deals and mergers activity, NASDAQ and JSE-listed Lesaka Technologies sealed purchase deal of South Africa’s Bank Zero at over $60 million underscoring an emerging shift in the market involving the consolidation of local FinTechs.

“Our focus has always been on using technology to remove friction, lower costs, and challenge legacy banking norms. Joining forces with Lesaka allows us to accelerate that mission at scale—reaching more customers, faster. It represents a critical step for Lesaka and Bank Zero in realising new revenue streams, improving capital efficiency, and unlocking synergies across our ecosystem,” said Bank Zero CEO Yatin Narsai in a communique announcing the acquisition.

What’s more, Egyptian software company Tactful AI was re-acquired by its co-founders, Mohamed El-Masry and Mohammed Hassan following a strategic separation from Belgian communications company Dstny, which bought the startup in 2022. The founders said the plan was aimed at regaining full ownership.

Tactful said the transaction would see the firm resume independent operations with a focus on new frontiers UAE, Saudi Arabia, the UK, and Western Europe.

Build own real estate portfolios

Meanwhile, another Egyptian startup, Nawy, acquired a majority stake in SmartCrowd, a UAE-based crowdfunding company with a focus on real estate investments. Nawy said the transaction aligns with its ambition to develop MENA’s first real estate Super App.

Under SmartCrowd, investpors can easily build own real estate portfolios, generating passive income simply with fractional ownership in said properties. So far, SmartCrowd has facilitated over $110 million in property deals and offered over $40 in earnings to investors spread in over 130 countries globally.

While announcing the acquisition, SmartCrowd’s CEO, Riz Ahmed, stated: “This is a transformative transaction for SmartCrowd, joining forces with Nawy to build the region’s premier proptech ecosystem. This partnership accelerates our transition from startup to scale-up – making us the go-to platform for real estate investment in the Middle East.”

Read also: African startups hit by funding drought in 2024, but innovation persists