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BD Insider, Letter 94: What should happen in Africa's tech ecosystem in 2022

In the BD Insider, Letter 94, we shared some things we'd like to see happen in Africa's tech ecosystem in 2022

Happy new year!

Have you made your resolutions and set your objectives and key results for 2022? And it's okay if you'll be coasting through the year feeling vibes on vibes.

To kick off the year, we’re sharing some things we'd like to see happen in Africa's tech ecosystem. We'd like to see:

Other sectors of the tech industry receive more funding, particularly edtech, healthtech, and female-led startups.
A lot of angel investing
Paystack and Stripe make Medium partner programme accessible to African countries
No undisclosed deals — mergers, acquisitions, and funding rounds.

More funding for edtech, fintech and female-only startups. African tech startups had a funding record year in 2021. But out of the $4.27 billion raised, according to Briter Bridges, healthtech and edtech startups accounted for only 14.24% with $608.2 million. And startups founded by a single female or a team of women raised less than 1% of the total funding raised on the continent.

Considering the importance of education and health to economic development, and the trillion-dollar opportunity female founders represent, it’d be great to see them receive more funding. The parity of funding would advance the growth of Africa’s tech ecosystem.

A lot of angel investing. The next frontier for digital wealth apps is to make angel investing accessible, and other investment opportunities. Enough with the Piggyvest- and Cowrywise-esque solutions. It’d be great to see more private equity tokenization platforms like GetEquity.

Paystack and Stripe make the Medium partner programme accessible to African countries. Not sure if the ball is in Stripe/Paystack or Medium’s court, but they should put their heads together and find a way to support African countries in the Partner Programme. Many Africans have ideas that need a Medium, too.

No undisclosed deals — mergers, acquisitions, and funding rounds. What’s the point of a breast without a nipple? Why announce a funding round or M&A, if basic details won’t be disclosed? Imagine if fundraises last year were undisclosed, there’ll be no $4.27 billion to report.

Interesting? Yes!

Here are some of the most exciting stories we've written/read in the past week:

What happened at BenjaminDada in 2021? Find out!
African founders shared how they scaled their startups here
You can be an angel investor with less than $3000 in Nigeria. How?
This tech startup has saved the Nigerian government $2million in losses in 5 years. How?