Analysis: Only 5 companies raised 43% of the $1.4B raised by African fintechs in 2025

African fintech companies announced 224 deals in 2025, raising $1.4 billion across 196 unique companies. The sector maintained its position as the most funded on the continent by volume and deal count.

But the distribution of that capital tells a story of extreme concentration, disclosure problems, and a funding ladder with missing rungs. Five companies raised $605.7 million. This represents 43% of all disclosed fintech funding for the year.

Zepz, formerly known as WorldRemit, raised $165 million in a single deal. Wave Mobile brought in $137 million. Egyptian lender MNT-Halan secured $120.4 million across two separate rounds. South African point-of-sale provider iKhokha raised $93.3 million. Nigerian payments infrastructure company Moniepoint closed a $90 million round.

Stretch that lens to the top 10 deals, and the concentration becomes even starker. These 10 companies raised $872 million, accounting for 62% of all disclosed funding. The top 20 deals captured $1.1 billion, leaving just $304 million for the remaining 97 companies that disclosed their raise amounts, all according to data by Briter.

The disclosure gap

79 fintech companies that announced deals in 2025 did not disclose how much they raised. That represents 40% of all fintech companies in the dataset. Two out of every five deals happened in the shadows.

Some of these undisclosed deals likely involve acquisitions or partnerships where funding amounts are deliberately kept private. Others probably represent raises so small that founders chose not to publicise the figures. Still others might involve strategic investors or debt facilities with terms that companies prefer to keep confidential.

This opacity creates a distorted picture of the fintech landscape. When you calculate averages or medians, you are working with only 117 disclosed deals out of 224 total transactions. The undisclosed deals could change the analysis dramatically if their amounts were known.

Among disclosed deals, the average raise was $12 million. But averages mislead when distributions are heavily skewed. The median tells a more honest story. Half of all disclosed fintech deals were below $2 million.

The micro-raise phenomenon

At the bottom of the funding pyramid sit deals that barely register as venture capital. 16 companies raised less than $50,000 in 2025. Six of them raised exactly $3,450. ProConnect, Prembly, Hadi Finance, DebtRecuva, Creditchek, and Bunce all clocked in at this oddly specific amount.

This figure likely represents a standard accelerator or pre-seed programme investment, possibly converted from local currency at a fixed exchange rate. Whatever the source, it highlights how little capital flows to the earliest-stage fintech companies.

Three companies raised exactly $6,800. One raised $5,000. Others brought in $10,000, $12,000, $20,000, $30,000, and $38,000. These are not funding rounds that can sustain businesses for long. They are survival capital, enough to build a prototype or run a pilot, but nowhere near enough to scale.

Move up slightly, and you find another cluster. 20 companies raised $50,000 – $150,000. These are pre-seed and seed-stage companies trying to prove concepts, build minimum viable products, and acquire their first customers. Another nine companies raised $215,000 – $400,000.

Eight companies raised $750,000 – $1 million. This range typically funds early product development and initial market testing. 22 companies raised $1.1 million – $4.9 million, the traditional seed to early Series A range.

But in dollar terms, these 75 companies raised only about $120 million combined. That is less than MNT-Halan raised across its two deals.

Combined, 75 fintech companies raised less than $5 million in 2025. That represents 64% of all companies with disclosed funding amounts. Nearly 2/3 of fintech funding activity happened at the small end of the spectrum.

The missing middle

Between the micro-raises and the mega-deals lies a critical funding gap. 24 companies raised $5.2 million – $18 million in 2025. This range represents Series A and early Series B rounds, the capital that helps proven startups to expand beyond initial markets, build out teams, and scale operations.

MoneyHash raised $5.2 million. M-Kopa, the pay-as-you-go asset financing company, secured $6 million. Jumo brought in $7.5 million. Affinity Africa raised $8 million. Six companies raised $10 million each.

ZeePay closed an $18 million round at the top of this bracket.

These 24 companies represent a thin middle class in African fintech. They proved enough traction to raise beyond the seed stage but have not yet reached the growth capital fortress. This is where the funding ladder should be strongest, providing clear pathways from early validation to scaled operations.

Instead, it is remarkably sparse.

The gap becomes more obvious when you look at what comes next.

Only nine companies raised $22 million - $38 million. Kredete secured $22 million. Paymenow raised $22.4 million. Qardy brought in $23.15 million. The range climbs through deals like Djamo at $25.2 million, Moment at $25 million, and Entersekt at $28.4 million, topping out with Naked Insurance at $38 million.

This nine-company cluster represents the upper middle class, businesses that have proven their models and are expanding aggressively. But nine companies out of 196 are a tiny fraction. The jump from $18 million to $22 million might seem small, but for most startups it represents an impossible chasm.

The growth-stage fortress

Nine fintech companies raised more than $50 million in 2025. They captured $872 million, representing 62% of all disclosed funding. These companies define the growth-stage fortress that early-stage startups aspire to reach.

LemFi raised $53 million. Stitch secured $55 million. Bokra brought in $58.9 million. Bank Zero closed a $61.4 million round. Then comes the top tier: Moniepoint at $90 million, iKhokha at $93.3 million, MNT-Halan at $120.4 million, Wave Mobile at $137 million, and Zepz at $165 million.

These deals fund market expansion, product diversification, regulatory compliance, and team scaling. They go to companies with proven revenue models, established customer bases, and clear paths to profitability or exit.

Investors writing $50 million checks want certainty. They want metrics that prove product-market fit. They want unit economics that pencil out. They want management teams that have scaled businesses before. They are not making bets on potential. They are buying into demonstrated execution.

This creates a self-reinforcing cycle. Companies that reach the growth stage attract more capital, which enables them to dominate markets, making them more attractive to investors, which in turn brings in even more capital.

Meanwhile, early-stage companies fight for scraps.

Multiple rounds and sustained momentum

A handful of companies raised multiple rounds in 2025, signalling sustained investor confidence. Djamo led with four separate deals totalling $25.2 million. MNT-Halan closed two rounds for $120.4 million combined. Entersekt raised $28.4 million over two deals.

Other multiple-round companies include Cauridor, with two deals totalling $13 million, PayTic Connect, with $4.4 million across two rounds, BFREE, with $4 million over two deals, Munify, with $3 million across two rounds, and Flend, with $3 million over two rounds.

At the smaller end, Oliv raised $2.76 million over two deals, Woliz brought in $2.2 million across two rounds, REasy secured $1.83 million over two deals, and Zazu raised $1 million over two rounds. NjiaPay, NylaBank, Waribei, Tata-iMali, Regxta, Crop2Cash, Oye, and Creditchek also announced multiple deals.

These multiple-round companies represent exceptions. They secured initial funding, hit milestones, and returned for follow-on capital. But most fintech companies in 2025 announced single deals with no apparent follow-on funding during the year.

Regional and sector patterns

The dataset by Briter reveals clear geographic clustering. Egyptian fintech entities raised significant capital.

MNT-Halan brought in $120.4 million. Bokra secured $58.9 million. valU raised $27 million. Khazna brought in $17 million. Thndr raised $15.7 million. MoneyFellows secured $13 million. Egypt’s fintech ecosystem attracted growth-stage capital for lending, buy-now-pay-later, and investment platforms.

South African companies dominated the upper tiers. iKhokha raised $93.3 million. Bank Zero brought in $61.4 million. Naked Insurance secured $38 million. Moment raised $25 million. These deals went to established financial services infrastructure companies serving South Africa’s more mature market.

West African fintech entities appear throughout the distribution. Wave Mobile’s $137 million stands as the second-largest deal. Moniepoint’s $90 million ranks fifth. But Nigerian companies cluster heavily in the smaller deal sizes, reflecting the broader trend that Nigeria recorded the highest number of deals but the lowest funding share among major markets.

Kenyan fintech companies raised across the spectrum. Companies like Copia Money, Watu Credit, and Pula secured deals in the $10 million to $18 million range. Others raised smaller amounts.

Sector concentration

Payment infrastructure companies attracted the largest individual deals. Zepz in remittances, Wave in mobile money, Moniepoint in payment infrastructure, and Stitch in payment APIs all raised significant growth capital. This reflects continued investor appetite for businesses that sit at the core of financial transactions.

Lending and credit fintech platforms also secured major rounds.

MNT-Halan raised $120.4 million. LemFi brought in $53 million. Kredete secured $22 million. Credit infrastructure addresses massive unmet demand across African markets, making it attractive to growth-stage investors.

Insurtech remains underfunded relative to payments and lending. Naked Insurance’s $38 million raise stands as the largest insurtech deal in the dataset. A few smaller insurtech companies raised modest amounts, but the sector has not achieved the same scale as payments or credit.

Wealth management and investment platforms raised smaller amounts. Thndr brought in $15.7 million, the largest in this category. Most investment and savings platforms raised under $5 million.

Smaller categories barely register. Tax technology, expense management, compliance, and financial wellness companies raised minimal amounts. The infrastructure and credit layers continue to absorb most available capital.

The repeat players

Companies with name recognition and proven track records raised capital even when deal sizes were modest. Jumo, which has been operating since 2014, raised $7.5 million. M-Kopa secured $6 million. Onafriq, formerly MFS Africa, brought in $10 million.

These are not seed-stage companies. They are mature businesses raising growth or expansion capital. The fact that their deals are smaller than the mega-rounds suggests they either did not need massive amounts or could not attract them. But they still raised multiples of what first-time founders secured.

First-time founders with no track record and no existing revenue face the harshest funding environment. They are the ones raising $3,450 from accelerators or $100,000 from angel investors. They are the undisclosed deals that did not generate press releases. They are the companies that will struggle to survive long enough to prove their ideas work.

Why this matters

Winners take nearly everything. Everyone else fights for scraps.

When five companies capture 43% of all funding, when 40% of companies cannot or will not disclose their raise amounts, and when 75 companies are trying to build financial services businesses on less than $5 million each, the ecosystem is not healthy. It is bifurcated.

The 24 companies in the $5 million to $18 million range represent a thin bridge between seed and growth stages, but it is not nearly wide enough to support the volume of companies trying to cross it.

In all, the fintech sector continues to attract the most deals and the most total funding on the continent. But the concentration of capital at the top, the scarcity of mid-stage funding, and the proliferation of undisclosed micro-deals reveal a sector under stress.

It is, however, important to note that the companies raising $165 million today were once raising $1 million or $2 million five years ago. They needed patient capital and multiple funding rounds to reach their current scale.

If today’s early-stage fintech companies cannot access similar support, the pipeline will dry up. The next generation of African fintech giants will not emerge. And the sector’s dominance will fade as investors shift capital to infrastructure-heavy plays like solar and cleantech that are already growing three times faster.

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