Africa’s Venture Capital Boom: A Growth Story That Excludes Women Founders
Africa’s venture market is experiencing unprecedented growth, yet a glaring disparity persists in who benefits from this expanding capital. Despite the continent’s tech ecosystem attracting significant investment, the vast majority of funding continues to flow overwhelmingly towards male-led startups. As revealed by Briter’s latest report, a staggering 75% of all venture capital raised in Africa by 2025 has been directed to companies founded and primarily managed by men. This leaves women-led and mixed-gender teams to share a mere quarter of the total funding, highlighting a critical gender imbalance in the African startup landscape.
The Persistent Funding Gap for Women-Led Ventures
This lopsided capital allocation is far from a new phenomenon. Over the past five years, the trend has remained disturbingly consistent, with male-led teams securing an average of nearly 90% of all venture funding. This pattern has shown minimal deviation even as Africa’s venture market has matured, surpassing $2 billion in total investment in 2025. The ecosystem now boasts over 500 deals annually, with the median deal size exceeding $1 million. The landscape is undeniably evolving, marked by larger investment checks, a consolidation into fewer, more substantial deals, and the emergence of new financing instruments like debt, which has for the first time surpassed $1 billion. Yet, amidst this dynamic growth and innovation, one unfortunate constant remains: women entrepreneurs are systematically being left out of Africa’s capital flows. Interestingly, while the sheer number of transactions has seen a steady decline since the investment bubble of 2021-2022, the deals that do close are significantly larger, effectively restoring the median deal size to its 2022 levels.
The expansion of Africa’s venture capital market signifies immense potential for economic transformation and innovation. However, this progress is undercut by the persistent exclusion of women from equitable access to funding. For the African tech ecosystem to truly flourish and realize its full potential, a concerted effort is needed to address this fundamental gender disparity, ensuring that the growth benefits all entrepreneurs, irrespective of gender.
Keywords
Related Keywords: Africa venture market growth, women entrepreneurs Africa funding, gender gap African VC, investment for African women, women founders Africa challenges, African startup ecosystem women, venture capital gender disparity Africa, funding womenled businesses Africa, Africa tech women investment
