Funding: African startups raised $1.4 billion in H1 2026 off a $515 million windfall in June

African startups have raised $1.4 billion in the first half of 2026. This is according to data from the funding analytics company, Africa the Big Deal, and crunched by Technext. The first half (H1) of 2026’s total sum is at par with the same period in 2025.

Accordingly, 66 per cent of about $900 million was raised via equity. This is quite remarkable considering that debt financing has become prevalent. Yet, it falls short of the $950 million raised in the same period last year, about a 5.3 per cent drop.

Conversely, 33 per cent of the total ($450 million) came in the form debt, a 12.5 per cent rise from the $400 million debt funding recorded in the first half of the previous year.

Funding for African startups: Spiro leads the’list

The impressive first-half performance was powered by a strong June. In the sixth month, 48 African startups raised $515 million. This was by far the most impressive month of 2026, representing a 281.4 per cent monthly growth and dwarfing the previous highest of $272 million raised in February by nearly 90 per cent.

On a year-on-year basis, June 2026 trumps the $365 million raised in June 2025, a 41.4 per cent difference. Indeed, June’s tally is the highest since July of last year, when African startups raised $550 million.

Venture in Africa

Notably, 91 per cent of the funding, about $468 million, came in the form of equity. This is more equity funding than has been raised in the first five months of the year and way larger than the monthly equity average of $169 million recorded over the last 12 months.

Incidentally, it is also the best monthly equity raise since March 2022.

Read also: Spiro secures fresh $55M from Chinese investor NewTrails Capital for African EV expansion

Leading the pack in June is Beninoise e-mobility company, Spiro, which raised $270 million during the month. The raise was backed by NewTrails Capital, Impact Fund Denmark, Equitane, FEDA, Nithio, and the Africa Go Green Fund.

The raise pushes the company’s total funding well past $600 million across all rounds.

Also contributing in no small way was Flutterwave, the African fintech unicorn which raised a reported $100 million during the month. The strategic investment from Ripple comes as part of a Series E funding round that supposedly values the company at $3.2 billion.

The deal weaves Ripple’s enterprise blockchain network, its U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin RLUSD, and the XRP Ledger into Flutterwave’s existing payment rails, making it one of the more significant tie-ups yet between an African fintech and a global digital-asset infrastructure provider.

Another unicorn, the Egyptian fintech giant MNT-Halan, completed the top three investment destinations with a $50 million raise during the month. The raise, which marks the first closing of a new investment round led by Al Ahly Capital, the investment arm of the National Bank of Egypt, means the fintech has now reached a $1.4 billion valuation.

Image Source: MNT Halan

The fintech said most of the proceeds will be used to expand its operations in Egypt while supporting regional growth.