Investing in female-led startups in Africa remains a pressing issue as the continent grapples with a stark funding disparity. In the first half of 2023, female-founded ventures secured a mere $22 million in equity funding, marking a concerning decline compared to previous years. According to ‘The Big Deal,’ an African investment tracker, a staggering 98% of funding flowed towards startups with at least one male founder, further emphasizing the challenges faced by female entrepreneurs.
This disparity in funding allocation highlights the urgent need for gender balance in Africa’s startup ecosystem. While exclusively female-founded startups received only 22% of equity funding, their male counterparts secured a significant 79% share. These statistics paint a stark picture of the hurdles female founders continue to encounter.
Despite these challenges, we shine a spotlight on 15 resilient female-led startups according to four African investors—Uwem Umemakpan, Opeyemi Awoyemi, Isaac Ewaleifoh, and Joseph Benson-Aruna—that are building outstanding startups and making an impact in the continent’s tech ecosystem.
Mwanga
“I recently came across Mwanga, and the work that they do in debt collection is very essential,” Opeyemi Awoyemi, managing partner at Fast Forward said.
Mwanga was founded in 2018 by Echika Obijiaku as a Business Process Outsourcing firm pioneering debt recovery for businesses in Africa. Mwanga uses digital-first models to help businesses with debt recovery, customer support/engagement, telemarketing, etc. Some of the startup’s clients include Fairmoney, Carbon, Branch, Payhippo, etc.
Outsource Global
“I’ve always believed that the ability to train and market our youth’s skillset at scale is an underrated competitive advantage,” Opeyemi said. Outsource Global was founded in 2013. The startup is a business process outsourcing firm with offices in Abuja, Lagos, and Kaduna helping businesses reduce operational costs and time. In August of 2023, the startup was recognized by the World Bank for its efforts at job creation, empowerment, and innovation. “Amal is winning on this end with Outsource Global.” He added.
With over 2,000 jobs created and more than 50 percent female across all levels, Outsource Global’s impact on employment is a testament to its mission of driving positive socio-economic change.
Herconomy
“Ife possesses a unique strength in community building which has been a core driver for the company. I don’t think we’ve seen the best of Herconomy yet.” Opeyemi said. Herconomy is a female-focused fintech startup dedicated to empowering women with access to financial services was founded by Ife Durosimi-Etti in 2018. It began as a community for women to access opportunities, and grants, it later metamorphosed into a paid community of 1,500 members.
The startup raised $600,000 from its community with participation from Oui Capital. In 2023, it received $150,000 from the Google Black Founders Fund, bringing its total fund raised to $750,000.
Bankly
“Tomi exhumes brilliance and knowledge of her space and customer needs in a way that’s comparable to Tosin of Moniepoint,” Opeyemi stated, according to him she has also shown herself to be able to attract good talent and continues to make good strategic choices in how Bankly grows.
Bankly is a duly licensed microfinance digital bank that offers banking services tailored for individuals and businesses. Established in 2018, this startup was co-founded by Tomilola Adejana and Fredrick Adams.
Bankly secured an initial pre-seed funding of $100,000 from Greenhouse Capital in 2018. Subsequently, in 2021, the company successfully raised a seed investment of $2 million, bringing the total funding raised to $2.1 million. In the month of August 2023, the startup officially announced the launch of its microfinance bank and the release of new features.
Healthtracka
When we asked Isaac Ewaleifoh, limited partner at Launch Africa Ventures, which female startup will should look out for, he named Healthtracka.
Healthtracka was co-founded by Ifeoluwa Johnson and Victor Amusan in 2021, to solve stigmatization by enabling discrete and convenient testing and diagnosis in the comfort of people’s homes thus improving wellness. In 2021, the Lagos-based health tech startup got accepted into Techstars Toronto Accelerator program, and in 2022 raised $1.5 million in pre-seed funding to expand its at-home lab testing solution.
Shecluded
Shecluded provides microloans and business training to women who often aren’t able to access credit and are at 50% below market rate thus facilitating economic inclusion and shared prosperity. The startup was founded by Ifeoma Uddoh in 2019 to improve the influence and financial strength of women beyond the African continent. With a growing community of over 20,000 female entrepreneurs, the startup has disbursed over $500,000 in growth loans. The startup received $100,000 from the Google Black Founders Fund in 2023.
Amini
“Building Africa’s environmental data infrastructure which is mostly non-existent at the moment is such a brilliant initiative,” said Isaac Ewaleifoh. The Kenyan climate-tech startup was founded by Kate Kallot in December 2022, it uses artificial intelligence and satellite technology to gather data on Africa from about 20 years ago. Despite the fact that Fintech is dominating fundraising on the continent, climate tech startups are starting to get attention from investors. Amini is one of those startups and in March raised $2 million in pre-seed funding.
“These are my top 4 and why I like them/their ventures. I’m on the cap table of two but cheering for all!” Isaac Ewaleifoh said.
Emergency Response Africa
“We met during my time at Ingressive,” Uwem Uwemakpan, head Of investments, at Launch Africa Ventures stated. “Folake Adunni is a very impressive lady with a solid story as to why she is building ERA.”
He went on to explain, “She left Canada to come build in a very difficult sector; Emergency Healthcare. The only other person doing this at scale is Dr. Ola Brown of Flying Doctors. Folake has been insisting on the quality of healthcare delivery, and she is building the infrastructure for emergency healthcare, starting out from Lagos, Nigeria.” Uwemakpan further noted, “Her approach is very impressive as she is making it accessible to all and not just a premium service.”
In 2020, the startup secured $25,000 in pre-seed funding from Bulb Africa, followed by an additional $100,000 from the Google Black Founders Fund in 2021. In 2022, the Techstars accelerator further bolstered their funding with an investment of $120,000. In total, this startup has amassed an estimated funding pool exceeding $400,000.
Kwara
Uwem Uwemakpan shared that he met Cynthia during his time at Ingressive, and they were just running a pure credit platform. “Cynthia is an Engineer by profession, a trained Engineer, but she’s incredibly tenacious. Considering their journey from where they started to what they’ve become now, they’ve continuously iterated and evolved into creating a back-office solution for credit unions. This system enables them to handle deposits, process loan applications, manage repayments, and more – essentially providing an infrastructure for credit unions.”
“They’ve made it so simple that all you need to do is connect to their APIs to set up your own back office. That’s why I have great respect for Cynthia as a founder,” he said. He added that Kwara is also among Launch Africa’s top-performing portfolio companies in terms of return on investment. They’ve expanded their operations to three markets: Kenya, South Africa, and the Philippines.
In 2023, the startup raised a $3 million seed extension and signed a deal to reach over 4,000 credit unions. The new funding brings the total funding raised by the startup to $7.5 million.
Susu
“Bola Bardet stands out for me because of the market she is building in, which is health insurance in Francophone Africa, and most VCs wouldn’t even want to touch that sector,” says Uwem Uwemakpan.
“She has, however, expanded into countries like Cote D’Ivoire, Senegal, and Cameroon, and they’ve done phenomenally well considering how fast they’ve raised funds over the years,” he added.
Susu offers insurance for preventive care and medical coverage in the countries they operate in, and when you travel, they monitor chronic diseases and provide logistical support to insurance beneficiaries. Uwem believes it’s essential to mention Bola Bardet when discussing female founders doing remarkable work on the continent. “Her ability to scale this solution across these francophone countries and secure significant funding positions Susu as the infrastructure that enables access to quality healthcare through insurance,” he said.
In March 2022, the startup raised $2.2 million pre-seed to scale affordable healthcare for Africans, the round was a mix of equity, debt financing, and grant.
Credrails
Uwem Uwemakpan said “Clara is a phenomenal lady. Probably the best-performing fintech infrastructure that Launch Africa has invested in, in terms of MoM growth by over 12%, and they are expected to do $1.5 million over the next 12 months.”
“The team is very ambitious, and they are building a very scalable solution. They operate in two markets; East Africa and Nigeria. I am very biased about infrastructure plays because the success of startups like Credrails will enable other corporates and SMEs to succeed and scale because of the connectivity she is building across the continent.” He added.
The open finance startup raised an undisclosed round of seed funding to scale its work of connecting the whole of Africa to its API, this brought their total fund raised to $2.5 million.
Tushop
The social commerce company was founded in 2021 by Cathy Chekpemboi to reduce the cost of living in Kenya by enabling group buying of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG). “By using Community Champions who manage these groups, they solved the problem of last-mile delivery while helping them earn extra income,” says Joseph Benson-Aruna, partner at DFS Lab.
In 2022, the Nairobi-based startup raised a pre-seed funding round of $3 million to scale its operations across the country.
Famasi
“The team is building the infrastructure to simplify access to medications for everyone and their progress so far is very impressive,” Joseph said.
Famasi was co-founded by Adeola Ayoola and Umar Faruq in 2021, is a digital health platform that helps people access their medications, get doorstep delivery, automate monthly refills, enjoy free follow-ups, and connect with healthcare providers. The startup raised an undisclosed pre-seed round of funding from Microtraction and other angel investors in February 2023.
Debbo Africa
Debbo Africa provides accessible end-to-end access to health services specifically for women on the continent, starting out with virtual consultations and medical diagnostics.
The Lagos-based health tech startup was co-founded in 2021 by Zara Modibbo and Aisha Wanka as an integrated and trusted platform for quality personalised diagnostics, focused on cancer, sexual/reproductive health, and infectious diseases, and also providing virtual consultations for females, by females.
Maad
Maad is modernizing FMCG infrastructure for informal markets in Francophone Africa by allowing retailers to order products from their one-stop shop. Headquartered in Dakar, Senegal, the B2B e-commerce startup is co-founded by Sidy Niang and Jessica Long, who serve as Co-CEOs.
Their approach not only ensures reliable delivery but also offers cost-effective pricing and minimizes stock-outs for retailers. Beyond its distribution infrastructure, Maad enriches its services with valuable offerings catering to both retailers and brands. The startup raised a total of $530,000 in funding.
The following nominated startups indicate a clear regional and sectoral distribution. Nigerian-based startups emerged as the predominant group on the list, with a strong representation. They were followed by Kenyan startups, demonstrating notable presence, and Senegal also secured a position.
In terms of sectors, the health-tech domain emerged as the dominant sector among these startups. This was closely followed by fintech ventures, indicating a significant focus on innovative solutions within these sectors.
