What are the top venture capital firms investing in African startups?

I recently (Aug. 2017) published this piece, ‘African Startups are Increasingly Attractive to Investors’, that looked at African and Africa-focused startups that raised $500K and above during H1 2017 (+ July).

Relevant to this question, one theme that emerged was that a handful of investors are betting big on African startups in 2017.

As Andy Tang mentions, Silicon Valley’s Draper Associates is quite active in Africa. New York’s Greycroft Partners is as well. As are Silicon Valley’s Y Combinator, Soma Capital, & Social Capital, as well as San Francisco’s Lynett Capital and Kenya’s Savannah Fund.

My excerpted list of African/African-focused startups raising significant capital from Jan-July is below, but to put things in better perspective, I’d suggest reading the article in its entirety on Afridigest.com.

• UNICAF, an online education platform & operator of higher education learning centers, raised $12 million from Kenya’s Savannah Fund, New York’s University Ventures, and UK development-finance institution, CDC Group.
• Kenya’s Twiga Foods, a B2B m-commerce platform, raised a $10.3 million Series A round led by Dubai’s Wamda Capital.
• Flutterwave, an API-driven fintech platform, raised a $10+ million Series A round co-led by New York’s Greycroft Partners and San Francisco’s Green Visor Capital, with Silicon Valley’s Y Combinator also participating.
• Nigeria’s Cars45.com, an online marketplace for used cars, raised a $5 million Series A round from Berlin’s Frontier Car Group (a holding company backed by London’s Balderton Capital, London’s TPG Growth, Lagos’s EchoVC, and Silicon Valley’s NEA.)
• Kenya’s PowerGen, a renewable energy provider, raised a $4.5 million Series A round led by Dutch family office, DOB Equity with Kenya’s AHL Venture Partners also participating.
• Morocco’s WaystoCap, a cross-border B2B e-commerce platform, raised ~$3 million from Silicon Valley’s Y Combinator, Waltham’s Battery Ventures, Silicon Valley’s Soma Capital, New York’s Palm Drive Capital, Palo Alto’s Amino Capital, New York’s Story Ventures, San Francisco’s Lynett Capital, and others.
• Kenyan-headquartered BitPesa, a virtual currency payment platform, raised a $2.5 million Series A round led by Silicon Valley’s Draper Associates, with participation from New York’s Greycroft Partners and others.
• South Africa’s HearX, a hearing-focused digital health firm, raised a $2.8+ million seed round, including $500k in grants.
• Nigeria’s Tizeti, a high-speed wireless internet provider, raised $2.1 million from California-based venture-debt firm, Western Technology Investment, Silicon Valley’s Social Capital, Dubai’s Vy Capital, San Francisco’s Lynett Capital and others.
• Kenya’s Alternative Circle, the fintech-focused parent company of mobile micro-loan app, Shika, raised a $1.1 million strategic investment from Iceland-based credit risk management company, Creditinfo Group, related to data generated.
• Kenya’s Bamba, a mobile-driven data collection startup, raised a $1.1 million seed round from Silicon Valley’s Draper Associates, Colorado’s Foundry Group, San Francisco’s Right Side Capital, and others.
• Ghana’s OMG Digital, a viral media company, raised a $1.1 million seed round from San Francisco’s Comcast Ventures, Silicon Valley’s Soma Capital & Social Capital, and others.
• South Africa’s Aerobotics, a data analytics company leveraging drones, raised a $600,000+ seed round from Kenya’s Savannah Fund and South Africa’s 4Di Capital.
• Kenya’s EatOut, a restaurant discovery media platform, raised a $500,000 strategic investment from fintech firm, Craft Silicon, related to the platform’s payments technology.
• Uganda’s Ensibuuko, a provider of cloud-based finance software for non-bank financial institutions, raised $500,000 from Canadian investor, Ed Levinson.

To get the full context, have a look at the article in its entirety on Afridigest.com