As of 2020, there are about 6,935 Startups in Africa, with Nigeria topping the list with 3,300 startups in the country. There are also 6 Most Common Types Of Startups and different methods they scale and function.
Six years ago, Africa didn’t have one single unicorn startup, but today, 7 unicorns valued at over $1 billion are in Africa. While this is a tremendous progression, it also means that the future of upcoming startups is prosperous.
Investors are beginning to show conviction in Africa’s Ingenuity. Read on.
The 10 most valuable Unicorn Startups operating in Africa
The followings are 10 lists of the most valuable startups operating in Nigeria and Africa at large and they are:
- Chipper Cash
- Okay
- Wave
- Andela
- Flutter Wave
- Jumai
- Esusu
- Interswitch
- Fawry
- NFTfi
1. CHIPPER CASH
Chipper Cash is worth over $2 billion.
It is a Fintech startup company that enables cross-border payments across the continent of Africa. The venture-backed financial technology firm develops software that enables peer-to-peer cross-border payments that are free and instant.
After completing a $100 million Series C round led by SVB Capital last year, the company was valued at $2 billion. After six months, a Series C extension round led by Sam Bankman-cryptocurrency Fried’s exchange platform raised an additional $150 million, bringing the total Series C capital raised to $250 million.
Two African entrepreneurs, Ugandan Ham Serunjogi and Ghanaian Maijid Moujaled created the company in San Francisco in 2018 to provide a no-fee peer-to-peer cross-border payment service in Africa via their app. Ghana, Uganda, Nigeria, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Africa, and Kenya are among the countries that employ its services.
Read- Scientific Grant Writing Tips for Startups – Key Mistakes and How to Avoid Them.
2. OPAY
Opay has a market capitalization of approximately $2 billion. They are a firm that helps people do more with their money by building a mobile payment service and consumer platform that allows people to send and receive money, pay bills, and conduct other online activities.
The Nigerian Neobank provides personal accounts with debit cards, and all transactions are managed through an iPhone or Android app.
The company has raised $570 million in three rounds of fundraising, with the most recent funding coming in August 2021 from a Series C round, and is now valued at over $2 billion.
Yahul Zhou, a Chinese millionaire entrepreneur, started the company in 2018.
Read- 4 Insightful Ways to Attract Angel Investors as a Startup in Nigeria.
3. WAVE
Wave is Valued at over $1.7 billion.
It is a mobile money provider located in the United States and Senegal that claims to have cheap costs on accounts, deposits, bill payments, and withdrawals for users who want to send money.
In a Series A round, the African mobile money service raised $200 million, valuing the company at $1.7 billion. The funding is the region’s largest Series A round, making it the first francophone African unicorn.
Wave was founded in 2018 by Drew Durbin and Lincoln Quirk, the founders of SendWave, a remittance and YC-backed firm that allows consumers to send money safely and swiftly from North America and Europe to a variety of African and Asian nations.
Read- Where Business Startups Can Invest their Money in Nigeria- (2022).
4. ANDELA
Angela is worth $1.5 billion.
It is a global talent network that connects emerging market enterprises with engineering talent. Andela is a multinational corporation with activities on five continents.
Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, Ian Carnevale, Jeremy Johnson, and Christiana Sass, four professionals in the online education and recruitment business, started the fintech corporation in 2014 as a training company to match developers in rising markets today recognized as technology centers.
The company has raised a total of $381 million in different rounds of fundraising, with the most recent cash coming from a Series E round in September 2021, increasing the company’s valuation to $1.5 billion. Generation Investment Management and Spark Capital are the most recent investors in the fintech company.
Read- What is Business? – Definition | Features | Examples.
5. FLUTTER WAVE
This company is worth $1 billion.
Flutterwave is an African fintech firm that provides payment infrastructure to international merchants and payment service providers across the continent.
Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, Olugbenga Agboola, and Adeleke Adekoya created the fintech company in 2016 in San Francisco, California, with operations in ten African nations, including Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana.
Flutter waves have raised a total of $234.7 million in funding in 11 rounds, according to Disrupt Africa. Their most recent round of fundraising, a Series C round, was completed in March 2021, bringing the company’s valuation to over $1 billion.
Read- 9 Legit Small Business Loans in Nigeria- Explanations.
6. Jumia
Jumia’s value is placed at $1 billion.
Jumia is a company based in the United Arab Emirates. It was founded in Nigeria in 2012 by ex-McKinsey consultants, Jérémy Hodara (CEO) and Sacha Poignonnec (CEO), and has since expanded to African countries such as Egypt, Morocco, Ivory Coast, Kenya, and South Africa. As well as launching platforms such as Jumia Food, Jumia Travel, Jumia Deals, Jumia One, Jumia Pay, and others.
The company ascended to become Africa’s first unicorn in 2016, valued at over $1 billion, and went public on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in April 2019, raising $196 million in net proceeds.
In the first three trading days, the share price, which started at $14.50, increased by more than 200 percent. However, after reaching a high of over $50 on May 1, 2019, the stock’s value dropped.
Read- World Bank Grants For Small Businesses in Nigeria.
7. Esusu
This Japanese company is Worth over $1 billion.
Esusu is the newest unicorn to be discovered on the continent.
After a $130 million Series B investment round spearheaded by Softbank in late January, the credit-building business became a unicorn, indicating a more than ten-fold rise in Esusu’s valuation from its last funding round last July. Last year, the company was selected to Forbes’ Fintech 50 list.
Esusu was founded in 2018 by an Indian, Samir Goel and a Nigerian, Abbey Wemimo as co-founders and co-CEOs. The financial technology platform reports rental data to build tenants’ credit scores while helping property owners increase revenue.
The organization now assists in the reporting of rent payments for over two million rental units in all 50 states in the United States, up from one million units last year.
8. Inter switch
A communications company valued at over $1 billion.
Interswitch is a digital payment and commerce startup that focuses on making payments simple and pleasurable. It was founded as a common African financial services provider and exclusively maintains a vast network of interconnected data centres across the continent.
The fintech company became a unicorn in 2019 after a $200 million equity investment from Visa gave it a $1 billion valuation. However, its most recent funding came from a corporate round in November 2019.
Mitchell Elegbe created the Nigerian financial services company in 2002, which pioneered the infrastructure to digitize Nigeria’s then primarily cash-based economy.
9. Fawry
This company is valued at over $1 billion.
Fawry is Egypt’s largest e-payment network, with over 60,000 service points and multiple channels through which clients can make payments.
Ashraf Sabry started the company in 2008 and launched it in December 2009 to address the demand for comfort and simple payments in Egypt, where traffic congestion and complicated procedures were daily obstacles for individuals and businesses.
Fawry has surpassed a $2 billion market valuation, a milestone reached after the company went public in 2019 and attracted the attention of major investors, resulting in a significant increase in its stock price from its initial EGP 6.46 ($0.4) opening price to over 7 times after about eighteen months.
However, as of now, the banks’ stock market cap is valued at $989 million
10. NFTfi
NFTfi is a decentralized and peer-to-peer cryptocurrency loan platform founded by Stephen Young in February 2020, in South Africa.
On the platform, users can list their NFT collateral to receive loan offers from other users.
On the platform, over 2100 loans worth a total of $26.5 million have been completed.
NFTfi secured $5 million in Series A funding. 1kx was the primary backer.
Sound Ventures, Maven 11, Scalar Capital, and Kleiner Perkins were among the other investors. NFTfi successfully raised $5.9 million in 2021.
Conclusion
There are over 10 African unicorn existing currently. African have proven that they can offer so much and they keep topping the list of the best unicorns in the world.
However, you might be saying that some of these unicorns’ stock prices have been fluctuating due to market volatility on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Egypt Exchange (EXG), respectively. But while most of them are currently valued at less than $1 billion, they have previously been valued at more than $2 billion.
