Founder, @propel_africa: where African founders and investors find each other. Father, husband, traveller, builder.
United Kingdom
Joined October 2010
- Tweets13.4K
- Following1.2K
- Followers2.1K
- Likes8.3K
Pinned Tweet
Eight years of African venture, on one record: $21.4 billion disclosed across 4,100+ funding rounds since 2019.
Acquisitions and IPOs stay out. Buying a company is not investing in one.
Every startup and fund has a page. Go and find your competitors. Or your next investor.
Abdulrahman retweeted
84 of the 302 African startup deals recorded between January and August 2026 went to companies with at least one woman co-founder.
That is about 28%: up on 2025, below 2023 and 2024.
propel.africa/news/africa-st…
Fintech: 81 African startup deals from January to August 2026, the most of any sector.
Its money fell to about $525M from about $690M, and more of it is borrowed: ValU $63.6M from National Bank of Egypt, @NALAmoney up to $50M.
Is fintech equity getting harder to raise?
Abdulrahman retweeted
Raise spotlight 🇳🇬
Aeon builds cybersecurity tools for networks, cloud, code and endpoints in Africa and the Global South.
In September it raised a $1M pre-seed led by Terra Industries, itself a Nigerian defence tech startup.
propel.africa/org/aeon
Abdulrahman retweeted
Who buys African startups? 🧵
Propel's records hold 212 acquisitions of 210 African startups, from January 2019 to February 2026.
Six in ten had a buyer based in Africa. One in three was bought by another startup.
Abdulrahman retweeted
🇪🇬 @Tactfulai has new backing from Hatem Dowidar, former group CEO of e&, extending its pre-Series A. Amount undisclosed.
Not a usual path: bought by Dstny in 2022, bought back by its founders in 2025, then $1M pre-Series A in February.
propel.africa/org/tactful
Egypt’s Tactful AI gets backing from former e& CEO Hatem Dowidar disruptafrica.com/2026/10/20…
Abdulrahman retweeted
Three Nigerian startups, one backer, all in naira 🇳🇬
In June, @CascadorNigeria provided debt to:
@agriarche $1.8M (₦2.5bn)
Koolboks $1.5M (₦2bn)
Powerstove $1.3M (₦1.8bn)
Farm supply, solar cooling and clean cooking.
propel.africa/org/cascador
Weekend question:
Which African startup is the most underrated right now?
Best answers might just get a Propel feature 👀
Since 2023, @Techstars has backed 41 Nigerian startups on Propel's records. Next: @vplatformhub 14, 54 Collective 13, @ycombinator 12.
But Techstars went from 54 African first cheques in 2023 to two in 2025.
Who writes Nigeria's pre-seed cheques in 2027?
Propel Africa went quiet last December.
Here's why: the old site was a directory, and the data aged the moment we published it.
So I rebuilt it. Every startup, every investor and every round between them, kept fresh.
Raised recently? DM me. I'd love to feature you.
Four first cheques this year, three of them pre-seed and all under $2M, from Nigeria to Morocco.
Founders who closed one in 2026: how long from first meeting to money in the bank?
Every company starts with a first cheque. Four that landed theirs this year:
ChipMango 🇳🇬 $1.9M seed, led by @AtlanticaVC
Verascient 🇿🇦 $1.2M pre-seed, led by @fcollective
Knot 🇪🇬 $1M pre-seed, led by A15
ReparTrust 🇲🇦 $800K pre-seed
Good luck with the next one.
37 pre-seed deals by September, against 19 in all of 2025. More first cheques are being written, just smaller ones. I'd rather see that than a few big ones. nitter.gq/thecondia/status/21128…
African pre-seed deals are picking up, but cheques are shrinking.
37 deals in Jan–Sep 2026 vs 19 in all of 2025. Yet the median disclosed deal fell 35%, from $1m to $650k
Disclosed funding hit $34m in nine months, above 2025's $28.6m
Is this a healthy funding market or a sign that capital is becoming harder to secure in meaningful amounts for pre seed companies?
#InsightsByCondia
African AI startups on Propel's AI Focus list: 112 companies, 144 rounds recorded, $302.6M in disclosed funding.
The same list has five recorded acquisitions, with $516.0M in disclosed consideration, kept out of the funding total.
M&A is already part of the AI story here.
Bought by an acquirer, bought back by its founders, now raising again. Not many African startups get a second start like @Tactfulai. nitter.gq/DisruptAfrica/status/2…
Egypt’s Tactful AI gets backing from former e& CEO Hatem Dowidar disruptafrica.com/2026/10/20…
🇳🇬 Nigeria took 46% of the money announced across Africa in Q3, on Propel's records: $326M.
Take out Moove's $250M Series C and it is about $76M across 30 deals.
One round can make a quarter. The 30 others are the ecosystem.
propel.africa/ecosystems/nig…
DFIs often write the first cheques in new markets. @Proparco's Digital Africa just made its first investment in Ethiopia: ChipChip, which links farmers with buyers in Addis Ababa. On Propel's records: $300K raised in September 2024.
Which market do you think VCs underprice most?
A year since @moniepoint closed its $200M round, with @Visa in as a strategic investor.
Strategic money from a global network is a different signal from a VC cheque: it says the rails matter. nitter.gq/propel_africa/status/2…
A year ago this week, @moniepoint added $90M to complete a $200M round.
@Visa came in as a strategic investor, alongside @LeapFrogInvest.
At the time: 1B+ transactions a month, and a valuation above $1B.
Happy anniversary to the team 🇳🇬
Two kinds of African exit in the news this week, and neither needed a Silicon Valley buyer:
1. MNT-Halan listed on the EGX in Cairo today.
2. @Five35V sold its @CompleteFarmer stake for 3.5x, a 38% IRR.
Home listings and secondaries. Which one comes next?
Unpopular opinion: early-stage funds in Africa should sell more, not less.
@Five35V took 3.5x on @CompleteFarmer by selling to another investor while the company kept growing. A first-time fund with real cash back raises its next fund. A paper 10x may never get the chance.