May 2025 - Top Funded Startups in Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa VC Funding Roundup – May 2025 | $318.8M Raised Across 114 Deals
As of May 2025, venture funding in Sub-Saharan Africa is… well, it’s not having its best year. Total funding dropped to $318.8 million, marking a 50% slide from 2024 and a 61% drop from 2023. Deal activity also thinned out—just 114 rounds, nearly half of last year’s volume.
📌 What’s changed? Mega-rounds have vanished. Not a single deal crossed the $100M mark this year. Investors are backing fewer startups, with sharper scrutiny—focusing on sustainable unit economics, proven demand, and real-world impact.
📌 Top 5 Funding Rounds – May 2025:
Aura (South Africa) – $15M Series B from Cathay AfricInvest and Partech. Uber-style emergency response platform expanding to the U.S.
Zero Carbon Charge (South Africa) – $5.6M seed funding from DBSA. Building off-grid, solar-powered EV charging stations nationwide
Arc Ride (Kenya) – $5M from British International Investment. Battery-as-a-service model with 5,000 electric motorbikes and 170+ charging stations
BURN (Kenya) – $5M from EDFI ElectriFI. IoT-enabled electric cookers replacing wood and charcoal in 100K+ homes
Cutstruct (Nigeria) – $1.5M seed round from CRE Venture Capital. Streamlining construction procurement across Nigeria
Despite macro headwinds—high debt, youth unemployment, and climate shocks—impact-driven startups in energy, mobility, and safety are still getting funded. The future is being built, even in a funding winter.
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