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Africa’s startup ecosystem needs a surge of “big exits” to help grow the pool of investors and capital available, a top official at the World Bank’s private investment arm told a summit of venture capitalists in Lagos.
If investors start realizing returns on their high-profile bets, it will create the “watershed moments” needed to accelerate the industry, said Shruti Chandrasekhar, head of the Africa private equity division at the International Finance Corporation.
The IFC official said the acquisition of Nigerian fintech Paystack by US payments company Stripe five years ago, for a reported $200 million, was one such moment in the West African country. And there had been a handful of big exits in South Africa and Kenya in recent years, but not enough. “You haven’t seen this realization of real capital within these markets for it to take off,” she said.
African startups raised $2.2 billion in 2024 across equity, debt, and grants, excluding exits, according to Africa: The Big Deal, a consultancy that tracks fundraising. A total of 188 ventures raised $1 million or more, while 22 exits were recorded.
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