Africa had 3 successful exits in January 2026, as startups raised total $174m

The African startup space witnessed three successful exits in January 2026, one of the most impressive months for exits in recent times. This is according to the African startup venture funding analytics platform, Africa the Big Deal.

Nigeria’s Flutterwave, Africa’s largest fintech by reach and scale, led the pack on the exits front when it acquired Nigerian open banking startup Mono. With the deal valued between $25 million and $40 million, Flutterwave moved to strengthen its position in digital financial services.

Flutterwave has dominated payment processing across Africa, powering commerce and remittances in more than 30 countries. However, the all-stock acquisition signals a shift in strategy that goes beyond payments.

The deal allows Flutterwave to embed Mono’s capabilities directly into its stack. Rather than relying solely on card networks or third-party services, businesses using Flutterwave can now incorporate secure onboarding, identity checks, bank account verification, and direct account-to-account payments within a unified framework.

On January 19, Israeli research and development company Commit acquired African tech talent startup, Savannah, in a multimillion-dollar deal. As part of the deal, the African tech talent company will now operate as part of COMMIT Offshore and will henceforth be known as Savannah by Commit.

Founded in 2022 and grown organically without external funding, Savannah has already built and placed more than 100 experienced developers with leading technology companies.

With this acquisition, Commit is strengthening its ability to help global organisations scale dedicated, high-quality engineering teams across regions, especially English-speaking African countries like Nigeria and Ghana.

Qotto

The third exit involved Izili, a leading Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) off-grid energy company based in Nigeria, which acquired Qotto for an undisclosed fee.

With the acquisition, Izili strengthened its footprint across Africa by bringing its total operational markets in Africa to six. The company says it reinforces its ambition to scale access to sustainable energy solutions across the continent.

Qotto, a Francophone-focused startup, has built a strong presence in Benin and Burkina Faso, delivering innovative solar solutions to households and entrepreneurs underserved by traditional energy infrastructure.

By welcoming Qotto into the Group, Izili further reinforces its commitment to making clean, reliable and affordable energy accessible, particularly in off-grid and rural communities.

See also: Venture funding: How African startups raised $3.2bn in 2025

African startups raise $174m in January

The African venture funding space witnessed a dip in January 2026 as startups across the continent raised a total of $174 million in funding during the month. The total captures raise in the form of grants, equity and debt funding.

Monthly drops are usually expected between the year-ending month of December and the beginning month of January. This has now been the case over the last 4 years (2023, 2024, 2025, and now 2026).

However, the January 2026 drop is quite stiff, representing a 55.7 per cent decrease from the $393 million raised in December 2025.

On a year-on-year basis, it represents a 39.8 per cent drop from the $289 million raised in January 2025. It is also 33.8 per cent below the $263 million monthly average over the previous 12 months.

But it is not all gloom, though, as the January 2026 tally is 64.1 per cent higher than the $106 million raised in January 2023. It is also 104.7 per cent more than the $85 million raised in January 2024. Thus, it isn’t anywhere near the worst January recorded.

Only 26 startups announced funding of up to $100,000 in January 2026. This is a more distressing stat as it represents the lowest monthly tally on record since at least 2020. Egyptian Fintech, valU, led January’s funding with $64 million secured in debt from the Egyptian National Bank.

Nigerian mobility startup, MAX, also raised $24 million in equity and asset-backed debt during the month. Egyptian Fintech, NowPay, also raised $20 million, Moroccan Proptech, Yakeey, raised $15 million in a series A round, and defence tech startup, Terra, raised $12 million.

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