Africa’s Rising Tech Ecosystem: A New Era for Investment
For several decades, Africa attracted scant interest from investors, particularly when it came to young African entrepreneurs. However, these very entrepreneurs are now breaking the glass ceiling by starting and scaling businesses that address some of the continent’s most significant challenges. Much like the impact seen in Silicon Valley, where a small group of individuals can have an outsized influence on ecosystems, Harambeans are starting to play a similar role in Africa. Companies like Yoco, Go1, Flutterwave, and Andela have shattered expectations, putting Africa back on the global map and demonstrating to investors that Africa is not only a place to invest capital but also a hub for business growth and talent acquisition.
Venture Capital and Africa’s Unicorns: A New Investment Frontier
Iyin Aboyeji, H’10, is a driving force behind Africa’s future. As the co-founder of Flutterwave, a company revolutionizing payments technology and infrastructure, Aboyeji has played a key role in connecting Africa to the global economy. Over the past few years, he led the company to become one of the fastest-growing payment businesses, processing over $2 billion in more than 50 million transactions annually. Flutterwave attracted substantial investments from key players in the global payments industry. Before Flutterwave, Aboyeji co-founded Andela, Africa’s largest engineering talent network, which has over 1,000 software engineers and received investments from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and Google Ventures. Aboyeji is also a general partner at Future Africa, a venture firm that partners with innovators to transform Africa’s most difficult challenges into profitable business opportunities.
In March 2021, Flutterwave closed a $170 million Series C funding round, achieving unicorn status with a valuation of over $1 billion. “Africa is still growing as a continent, and to be a unicorn now comes with the responsibility to take the future of payments to Africa, connect Africa to the world, and the world to Africa,” says Aboyeji.
Edtech Innovation: Go1’s Global Impact
Another standout example of innovation is Go1, a corporate edtech platform co-founded by Melvyn Lubega, H’16. In July 2021, Go1 secured $200 million in Series D funding, propelling the company to unicorn status with a valuation exceeding $1 billion. Go1 aggregates learning materials from leading global educational institutions into a centralized digital library, streamlining corporate training for both employees and employers. Lubega remarked, “It’s crazy to think how far we’ve come, but our North Star has remained the same: to unlock positive potential in people through a love for learning. This raise validates the size of the problem we’re solving and the opportunity to address it. Becoming a unicorn is a key milestone for us and the tech scale-up ecosystem, but our story is just beginning.”
Fintech Revolution: Yoco’s Empowerment of Small Businesses
Yoco, co-founded by Katlego Maphai, H’21, and Lungisa Matshoba, H’14, is another prime example of Africa’s thriving fintech sector. The company creates opportunities for entrepreneurs and small businesses to get paid. Since its launch in 2015, Yoco has partnered with over 150,000 merchants, processing $1 billion per year and employing 230 people. In July 2021, Yoco secured $83 million in Series C funding, bringing its total funding raised to $107 million. This funding surge coincided with a growing demand for digital payments among African small businesses.
The Future of Africa: Investment Opportunities Abound
These case studies underscore the immense potential of a thriving African ecosystem. To continue this momentum, it’s vital that we share our stories and successes on the global stage. As venture capital continues to flow into Africa, the ecosystem will only grow stronger. As Okendo Lewis-Gayle, Founder and Chairman of Harambeans, puts it, “Our unicorns give us more reasons to be bolder and hopeful for Africa’s future as investors and companies shift their focus to include the continent. We are extremely proud of what these businesses have achieved, and we believe this is just the tip of the iceberg—there is much more to come!”