Only 10 percent of Nigerian female-founded startups secured funding between 2019 to 2023, according to Briter Bridges’ ‘Beyond the Noise’ report.
The report, which examined 176 startups in Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa, highlighted the disparities in funding for women-led ventures in these regions. In Nigeria, just 59 startups, representing 10 percent of those funded, were founded by women. These startups received 85 deals (9 percent) and a total of $40 million, which amounted to only 0.7 percent of the $600 million deal volume over the five years.
Kenya saw 72 women-only founded startups, accounting for 19 percent of funded startups, and 105 deals (15 percent) of the country’s $550 million total deal volume. South Africa had 45 startups led by women founders, representing 12 percent of funded startups, with 53 deals (10 percent) and a total of $12 million, or 0.5 percent of the funding volume to the country.
Across all three countries, female founders secured 11 percent of deals and only 5 percent of the funding volume since 2019. Mixed-gender teams accounted for 16 percent of the funding rounds and 12 percent of the total funding volume. The report noted that women founders are underrepresented in high-growth sectors such as fintech and climate tech, but are more prevalent in slower-growth sectors like agtech, healthtech, and edtech, which attract less capital.
The report also revealed that, despite Nigeria having the largest startup ecosystem among the three countries, female founders remain a small proportion of the entrepreneurial landscape, with funding concentrated in sectors like health and biotech.
“Nigeria, overall, has a large market, but women founders are small in proportion and concentrated in a few sectors that need access to growth-stage funding,” it said. It added that while mixed-gender teams in Nigeria follow similar funding trends to male-only teams, women-only startups often stall at the incubator and accelerator stages, with limited access to pre-seed and seed funding.
Female-founded startups are key drivers of innovation and inclusive growth in Africa. Research shows that they generate higher revenues, create more jobs, particularly for other women, and start businesses in high-impact sectors like health and education. However, female entrepreneurs continue to face significant barriers to raising capital. Women-founded startups have accounted for less than 5 percent of venture capital funding in Africa since 2014.
According to Disrupt Africa’s ‘Diversity Dividend: Exploring Gender Equality in the African Tech Ecosystem,’ 55 percent of female founders have cited access to funding as one of the biggest challenges in their entrepreneurial journey. Between January 2022 and June 2024, 1,005 African tech startups raised $6.24 billion in funding, of which 220 (21.9 percent) had at least one female co-founder, a slight increase from 21 percent the previous year. Additionally, 119 startups (11.8 percent) were led by female CEOs, an increase from 11.7 percent in 2023.
“Fundraising has been an uphill battle as a female tech founder,” said Evelyn Kaingu, a female entrepreneur. “It has been hard with most funders to be taken seriously and provide ‘validation’ to what we’re building.”
Chidalu Onyenso, Founder of Earthbound, noted that female founders often face scrutiny regarding their personal lives, which their male counterparts do not encounter.
“In fundraising and closing partnership deals, there’s often an insistence on understanding and evaluating a woman’s non-professional life as a proxy to how she prioritises business,” she said. “Being honest and bringing my whole self into the workplace without letting my other identities be used against my ability to be high achieving as a founder has been a balancing act that I’m still figuring out.”
“Change has been slow. In some instances, progress looks like it’s reversing. While the share of the number of deals to startups with all-women founders has doubled over the last five years from 7 percent to nearly 15 percent, the share of total funding has actually more than halved from 6 percent to 2 percent,” added Milisa Mabeza, Director, UK-SA Tech Hub.
The report highlighted that while the share of deals going to startups with female founders has increased, the share of funding volume has decreased. Notably, in Kenya, funding to women founders exceeded 10 percent in 2023, but in Nigeria and South Africa, the gap has persisted, with women-only founders receiving just 1 percent and less than 1 percent of the total funding, respectively.
The report recommended steps to address these disparities, including supporting commercialisation efforts, building intentional networks, and promoting thought leadership in capital-raising strategies. It also emphasised the importance of deeper research into why female founders remain at early stages without access to significant funding.
“More intentional work needs to be done by Nigerian ecosystem builders to help women entrepreneurs at an early stage and create intentional connections with commercialisation opportunities. More marketing around successful women-founded startups can also help,” it said.
It noted that while Nigeria has many convenings, the spaces are often private and unwelcoming for women, triggering them to choose sectors/products that are easier to access.
