Investment vehicles focused on South Africa declined over past decade, especially those funding early-stage ventures
Number of Investment Vehicles launched
Source: ANDE Research
In 2017, the number of tech start-up deals declined slightly and average deal size hovered around US $800,000
- Deals
- Average Deal Size
Source: Disrupt Africa, African Tech Startups Funding Report 2017
South African start-ups raised a total of US $50 million in 2017, 25 percent of the total funds raised in Africa. The average investment size increased 15 percent to US $840,000, from US $731,000 in 2016. Between 2015 and 2016, the average deal size decreased by 40 percent from US $1.2 million [12]. The increase in the number of start-ups fundraising and the decrease in ticket sizes indicate that investors are investing smaller amounts into more ventures. Overall, this suggests healthy backing is available for early-stage ventures.
While these deals may include those above of ANDE’s US $2 million SGB definition, the average deal size indicates that most of the deals would meet ANDE’s criteria.