Global venture capital investment climbed to roughly $366.8 billion by late 2025, powered by record-breaking flows into artificial intelligence companies. While AI dominated the global conversation, African startups quietly built one of their strongest funding years yet. By August alone, companies across the continent had secured $2.8 billion, already surpassing 2024’s total.

The geography of capital shifted as well. Kenya led the pack with $879 million, followed closely by South Africa at $848 million and Egypt at $561 million. Nigeria, long the regional heavyweight, slipped to fourth with $186 million as its startup scene continued a period of recalibration.

This year’s largest deals reveal a striking trend: debt funding has become the engine driving Africa’s scale-up phase. Only three of the ten biggest raises were pure equity rounds, while securitisations, credit facilities and structured lending took centre stage. Here is a detailed look at the continent’s top funding transactions of 2025.

1. d.light — $300M (Debt)

Cleantech | July 1, 2025 | Kenya

d.light delivered the year’s largest transaction by expanding its receivables financing facility by $300 million. Arranged by African Frontier Capital and anchored by Mirova, the structure enables the company to purchase vast volumes of consumer receivables tied to its pay-as-you-go solar systems.
The move boosts d.light’s financing capacity toward the $1 billion mark and strengthens its ability to scale across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Nigeria.

2. Sun King (Greenlight Planet) — $156M (Debt)

Cleantech | July 30, 2025 | Kenya

Sun King continued its aggressive financing strategy with a landmark $156 million securitisation in Kenya, one of the largest deals of its kind outside South Africa. It followed an earlier $80 million naira-denominated facility in Nigeria, which became West Africa’s biggest local-currency energy access loan to date.
The capital is geared toward widening off-grid solar adoption across key markets.

3. Wave — $137M (Debt)

Fintech | June 30, 2025 | Senegal

Senegal’s mobile money leader Wave secured €117 million (about $137 million) in debt financing, led by Rand Merchant Bank with support from major development finance institutions including BII, Norfund and Finnfund.
The deal shored up the company’s working capital needs and fuelled further expansion across its African footprint. It also contributed to the region’s strongest month of debt issuance in more than two years.

4. MNT-Halan — $120.4M (Debt)

Fintech | October 8, 2025 | Egypt

Egypt’s fintech unicorn doubled down on its preference for non-dilutive funding. Through two securitised bond issuances in 2025, $49.4 million in May and a much larger $71.4 million in October, MNT-Halan advanced its multi-year EGP 8 billion programme approved by regulators.
The strategy allows the company to scale its lending book without giving up equity, reinforcing securitisation as a core part of its growth model.

5. Spiro — $100M (Equity & Debt)

E-mobility | October 2025 | Pan-African

Spiro closed a combined $100 million round featuring equity from the Fund for Export Development in Africa and roughly $50 million in debt from Afreximbank.
The investment aims to accelerate the company’s electric mobility infrastructure, especially its battery-swapping stations, as it targets more than 100,000 deployed electric vehicles by year-end. It stands as the largest single injection into Africa’s e-mobility market to date.

6. LXE Hearing — $100M (Equity)

Healthtech | April 2, 2025 | South Africa

Healthtech newcomer LXE Hearing, formed through the merger of Eargo and hearX, raised $100 million from Patient Square Capital.
The funding supports the group’s early expansion efforts and positions the merged entity to grow its global footprint in the hearing-care technology market.

7. Moniepoint — $90M of $200M Series C (Equity)

Fintech | October 21, 2025 | Nigeria

Moniepoint extended its strong funding run with the final close of a Series C round that surpassed $200 million across 2024 and 2025.
More than $90 million of that came in this year, buoyed by participation from Visa, IFC, DPI, LeapFrog Investments and the Google Africa Investment Fund. The capital supports Moniepoint’s expansion plans across Africa and into the UK, cementing its reputation as one of the continent’s most resilient fintech operators.

8. SolarAfrica — $98M (Debt)

Cleantech | February 27, 2025 | South Africa

SolarAfrica secured $98 million to launch phase one of its 1 GW SunCentral solar power project.
Financed by Investec and Rand Merchant Bank, the capital is structured as project funding for the initial 144 MW build-out—one of South Africa’s most ambitious private-sector energy projects. The deal highlights growing investor appetite for independent power producers as the country works to stabilise its energy supply.

9. Nawy — $75M (Equity + Debt)

Proptech | May–June 2025 | Egypt

Nawy recorded one of Africa’s largest proptech raises with a combined $75 million secured over two months.
Its $52 million Series A was led by Partech Africa, complemented by $23 million in debt financing from ten Egyptian lenders. Beyond capital, Nawy pursued aggressive expansion with the acquisition of ROA, rebranded as Nawy Unlocked, and a major stake in SmartCrowd in the UAE, signalling broader ambitions across real estate services and investment products.

10. Bokra — $58.9M (Debt)

Fintech | April 29, 2025 | Egypt

Bokra closed its first Sharia-compliant sukuk at $58.9 million (EGP 3 billion), structured as a Mudaraba sukuk with a seven-year tenor.
Issued for its subsidiary Aman Project Finance and listed on the Egyptian Exchange, the deal drew strong interest from Islamic finance institutions such as Suez Canal Bank, Al Baraka Bank and Arab African International Bank. It marks a significant step forward for Egypt’s Islamic capital markets.

A Year Marked by Securitisation, Solar Investment and Strong Unit Economics

These transactions paint a clear picture of how Africa’s fundraising landscape evolved in 2025. Debt became the dominant pathway for companies with proven revenue streams and solid customer traction. Cleantech emerged as one of the continent’s most heavily funded sectors, thanks to large-scale solar projects and off-grid energy solutions.

At the same time, fintech and proptech players that demonstrated financial discipline, such as Moniepoint and Nawy, continued to win investor trust despite global venture capital headwinds.

Africa’s funding momentum in 2025 reflects a maturing ecosystem where scale-up capital is increasingly tied to performance, not speculation. If current trends continue, the continent is likely to see even more structured finance deals, project-backed raises and growth-stage investments in the years ahead.