How Nigerian startups raised $520m

Nigerian startups raised over US$520 million in equity funding in 2024, re-echoing the country’s position as one of Africa’s leading startup and innovation hubs despite economic headwinds and other fiscal challenges, the Central Bank of Nigeria has said.

The revelation forms part of a broader continental analysis where the total African startup funding stood at about $2.2 billion in 2024, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria Fintech Report.

Titled: ‘Shaping the Future of Fintech in Nigeria: Innovation, Inclusion and Integrity,’ the report highlights Nigeria’s leadership in real-time payments, maturity of fintech growth, and the conditions required to sustain momentum as digital financial services deepen across the economy.

The report shows that while investment levels in Nigeria remain strong, they reflect a shift from earlier peak years.

In 2019, Nigerian startups raised about US$747 million, accounting for roughly 37 percent of all startup funding on the African continent at the time. That period marked one of the high points of venture capital inflows into Nigeria’s tech ecosystem.

According to the Central Bank, the 2024 funding outcome highlights both resilience and adjustment.

Nigeria continues to attract a significant share of investment relative to peers, even as global macroeconomic pressures, rising interest rates in advanced economies, and tighter capital conditions have reduced overall venture flows into emerging markets.

“Nigeria hosts one of Africa’s largest and most dynamic fintech ecosystems,” the report stated, noting that the country has consistently ranked among the continent’s leaders by both capital raised and deal activity. The Central Bank added that this performance underscores Nigeria’s strategic importance as a hub for financial innovation, even amid shifting global investment trends.

“The comparison between 2019 and 2024 illustrates how funding patterns have evolved. While the US$520 million raised in 2024 is below the 2019 level, the report explained that the earlier period coincided with a global surge in venture capital and lower borrowing costs. In contrast, the more recent funding reflects a cautious investment environment shaped by global inflation, monetary tightening, and increased risk aversion.

“Despite these headwinds, Nigeria’s ability to attract more than half a billion dollars in startup funding in 2024 places it among the continent’s top destinations for venture capital. With Africa’s total startup funding at US$2.2 billion that year, Nigeria accounted for a substantial portion of overall investment flows, reinforcing its continued relevance in the regional innovation landscape,” the report said.

The Central Bank said Nigeria’s historical share of African funding remains an important reference point.

In 2019, when the country captured about 37 percent of total African startup investment, it demonstrated the scale and depth of its ecosystem. That legacy, the report noted, continues to shape investor perceptions, even as funding cycles fluctuate.

“Nigeria’s experience reflects both the opportunities and vulnerabilities of an ecosystem that has relied heavily on foreign capital,” the report stated.

It explained that dependence on external funding sources makes startup investment sensitive to global financial conditions, currency movements, and shifts in investor sentiment.

The report also highlighted that the decline from 2019 levels should not be interpreted as a loss of relevance.

Instead, it described the 2024 outcome as evidence of resilience, showing that Nigeria remains competitive even during periods of global capital contraction. This resilience, the Central Bank said, is supported by the scale of the domestic market, the maturity of leading startups, and the country’s role as a gateway to wider African markets.

At the continental level, the US$2.2 billion raised by African startups in 2024 reflects a more selective investment climate. Within this context, Nigeria’s ability to secure over US$520 million signals sustained investor interest, particularly in sectors linked to financial services, digital payments, and technology-enabled solutions.

The CBN said since 2019, Nigeria’s dominance during that period was driven by strong global liquidity and growing confidence in African tech. Despite the fact that conditions have changed, the report stressed that Nigeria’s long-term fundamentals continue to support its status as a leading destination for startup investment across Africa.

Background

The CBN report is coming on the heels of a 2025 report which also revealed that Nigerian startups secured over $400 million in funding in 2024.

The report was released by Africa: The Big Deal, a firm that tracks startup funding across the continent.

With only two major deals –  Moove’s $110 million funding and Moniepoint’s $110 million Series C round, Nigeria’s startup funding for 2024 remained steady at approximately $410 million, the report said

According to the report, “Nigeria remains a key player in Africa’s startup funding landscape, with Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt, and South Africa known as the ‘Big Four’ accounting for 84% of the continent’s total startup funding in 2024, continuing their dominance since 2019.

“East Africa led the pack, attracting $725 million (33% of Africa’s total), with Kenya contributing $638 million, primarily driven by climate tech investments. West Africa came second with $587 million (27% of total funding), a 3% drop from 2023. Nigeria led the region with over $400 million, while Ghana, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, and Senegal also secured significant investments.

“North Africa saw a sharp 35% decline, raising $478 million, with Egypt’s funding dropping by 37% to account for 84% of the region’s total. Southern Africa suffered a 36% drop, recording $397 million in total funding, with South Africa contributing 99.4% of the region’s total,” the report further explained.

Other highlights of the report

The CBN Fintech report offers a detailed assessment of Nigeria’s fast-growing digital finance ecosystem and outlines strategic priorities for its next phase of development as it pictures fintech not as a disruptive alternative to traditional banking but as a core pillar of the national financial system, emphasizing integration, risk management, regulatory clarity, and institutional resilience.

The apex bank also notes that Nigeria remains Africa’s most active fintech hub, accounting for a significant share of startup funding, digital payment volumes, and financial inclusion gains.

The report notes that fintech firms now drive over 70 percent of electronic payment transactions, fueled by real-time payments, mobile wallets, digital lending, and agency banking.

The report identifies persistent challenges that slow fintech expansion, including inconsistent regulatory interpretation, infrastructure limitations, foreign exchange exposure, and fragmented oversight across agencies.

To address these, the CBN proposes a coordinated regulatory framework focused on innovation enablement, financial inclusion, and system integrity.

Key measures include modernizing licensing processes, implementing technology-driven supervision, strengthening consumer protection, and ensuring cybersecurity and data governance. The apex bank also plans structured regulatory sandboxes to support controlled experimentation and product testing.

The report draws on surveys, market data, and consultations with fintech operators, banks, payment providers, telecom companies, investors, and development partners. It is intended as both a policy reference for regulators and a strategic roadmap for industry participants.

The CBN noted that the review is the first in a series of periodic publications designed to track ecosystem performance, regulatory outcomes, and policy effectiveness, laying the groundwork for progressive policy upgrades, including enhanced capital requirements for critical fintech infrastructure and expanded cross-border regulatory cooperation.

The report lays emphasis on Nigeria’s payments infrastructure, noting the rapid growth in transaction volumes processed through the NIBSS Instant Payments platform in recent years.

This performance positions Nigeria among the leading adopters of real-time payments globally and underscores the central role of fintech in everyday economic activity.

Informed by surveys and broad stakeholder engagement, including structured interactions with fintech operators and financial institutions, the report sets out a framework centred on innovation, financial inclusion, and system integrity.

It outlines practical policy directions aimed at improving regulatory clarity, strengthening supervisory capability, and supporting responsible innovation, including pathways for cross-border scale.

How Nigerian fintechs can maintain top spot

David Adeoye Abodunrin, an AI transformations coach and chief futurism officer told Daily Trust that for Nigerian fintechs to maintain their top spot in Africa, they must use AI appropriately.

But he said most of them are using AI enthusiastically, adding that very few are using it strategically.

“Across the industry, AI has been treated as a feature, a marketing accent, or an efficiency tool—chatbots, fraud flags, credit scoring tweaks. Useful, yes. Transformational, no. This is not inappropriate use; it is underambitious use.

The deeper issue is that fintechs are applying AI to processes without first interrogating the assumptions inside those processes”, Abodunrin said.

“Automating flawed logic only scales blind spots faster”, he added.

He said appropriate use of AI in fintech begins with a harder question:

What decisions are we repeatedly making without fully understanding their long-term consequences?

He said the fintechs that will truly benefit from AI are those using it to discover patterns humans cannot see, not just to accelerate what humans already do.

Another expert, Milicent Ajorobo, said Nigerian fintechs should keep innovating if they must maintain their top spot.

Ajorobo added that only constant innovation would make them see their achievements as nothing hence the need to keep improving.

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