African startups began the year with a measured and strategic performance, raising a total of 174 million dollars in January 2026. While this figure reflects a dip from the 276 million dollars recorded in January 2025, it remains significantly higher than the funding levels of 2023 and 2024. Data released by Africa: The Big Deal on February 8, 2026, highlights a market defined by extreme selectivity, with only 26 startups successfully closing deals over 100,000 dollars—the lowest monthly deal count recorded in several years.
Fintech continues to dominate the landscape, accounting for nearly 60 percent of total funds, but the narrative has shifted toward strategic consolidation. A major highlight of the month was the acquisition of Nigerian open banking pioneer Mono by Flutterwave. The all stock deal, valued between 25 million and 40 million dollars, allows Africa’s largest fintech unicorn to integrate Mono’s data driven APIs for bank verification and account to account payments.
This exit is being viewed by analysts as a sign of ecosystem maturity where infrastructure leaders are merging to build more defensible platforms.
The geographical distribution of capital remains concentrated, with Egypt and Nigeria serving as the primary engines of the month’s activity. Egypt led the fundraising effort, with the lifestyle fintech valU securing a 63.6 million dollar debt facility from the National Bank of Egypt to scale its regional operations.
In Nigeria, the mobility financier MAX raised 24 million dollars in a mix of equity and asset backed debt to expand its electric vehicle fleet and clean energy infrastructure across West and Central Africa.
The January data also underscores a pivot toward debt financing, which was split nearly evenly with equity throughout the month. This trend suggests that mature startups are increasingly opting for non dilutive capital while investors prioritize revenue backed business models over speculative growth.
Beyond fintech, sectors like property technology and defense technology are beginning to capture a larger share of the venture pool. As the year progresses, the focus for the African tech ecosystem appears to be moving toward sustainability and the return of the balance sheet as a competitive advantage.
