The exit door is still open for Africa’s tech founders, but it is no longer leading to the places many once expected. From 2023 to 2025, more than 100 startup exits were recorded on the continent, about half of which were due to mergers and acquisitions, with few listings taking place and trade sales becoming the most reliable route to securing liquidity.
This change is not just about quantity, but also about who buys it. These include local banks, carriers, insurance companies, and private equity firms. These companies already operate in these markets and understand the regulatory and political risks involved.
As 2026 begins, the makeup of that buyer base is changing the behavior of founders. With late-stage funding in short supply, the initial public offering (IPO) window effectively closed, and only a fraction of early-stage capital recovered, many founders are opting for smaller, locally-driven exits rather than waiting for global acquirers that may never arrive.
Funding winter brings waves to deals
The rise of this exit machine is rooted in the backlash from Africa’s funding boom. Funding for African startups soared to more than $3.3 billion in 2022, but fell by about 28% to $2.4 billion in 2023, with the number of funded startups dropping by more than a third. Recent statistics show that by 2024-2025, funding has recovered to about $2 billion to $3 billion per year, but the era of the cash rush is over.
This shift is currently colliding with a cluster of African startups founded between 2015 and 2019, many of which last raised funding at 2021 valuations. They are larger, older and need more cash than a bridging loan can provide. At the same time, limited partners are demanding profits from venture capitalists, leading to an increase in exits even as new investment slows. The Africa Private Capital Activities Report recorded 63 withdrawals in 2024, an increase of approximately 50% from the previous year, and the second highest number on record after 2022.
According to this report from TechCabal Insights, the number of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) will reach double digits in 2023 and accelerate rapidly thereafter. By mid-2025, Africa’s technology industry had recorded a record number of M&A transactions in a six-month period, with fintech accounting for nearly half of them. In our year-end review, the number of deals closed for the full year of 2025 was up nearly 70% compared to the previous year. In other words, the winter of funding turned into a consolidation cycle, with outstanding venture-backed assets finally finding buyers.
new buyers club
1. Existing local businesses such as banks, telecommunications companies, insurance companies, and retailers
If there is one buyer that will define African startups in 2026, it will be African incumbents that are rushing to digitize. Banks, carriers, insurance companies, and retailers are turning to acquisitions to gain an edge by buying licenses, agent networks, and product teams rather than building from scratch.
South Africa’s Resaca paid approximately $85.9 million to payments fintech Adumo to strengthen its merchant acceptance network. TymeBank has acquired small business lender Retail Capital, turning the start-up lender into a distribution engine for its small business products. In Kenya, Nigerian fintech company Moniepoint acquired Sumac Microfinance Bank and secured a local license to enter the East African credit market.
Incumbents in these regions acquire startups that can significantly change key metrics such as loan growth, valuations, and merchant numbers within 12 to 24 months. That logic will tighten in 2026 as shareholders take a harder look at spending on digital transformation.
2. Scaling up Africa as a serial acquirer
The second emerging buyer is less evident in the data, but more visible on the ground. African startups acquiring other African startups.
The merger of Kenya’s Wasoko and Egypt’s MaxAB created a transcontinental player in the informal retail industry, and further consolidation soon followed, including the acquisition of Egyptian wholesaler Fatura. In the logistics and mobility space, acquisitions such as BuuPass’ acquisition of QuickBus and Yassir’s acquisition of smaller delivery companies highlight the same trend. In January 2026, Flutterwave acquired Mono in an all-stock transaction to integrate open banking across its vast product and geographic footprint.
South African fintech company Ukeshe has acquired payment processor EFTCorp, while Kenyan banks see their payment and agent networks being courted by acquisitive regional players. License purchase deals like Moniepoint and Sumac demonstrate how regulated assets are becoming acquisition targets in their own right.
3. Global player
Global names are still important, but their role is more limited. Payment networks, software-as-a-service (SaaS) platforms, and infrastructure companies are all gaining ground in Africa. Stripe’s acquisition of Paystack, WorldRemit’s Sendwave deal, Equinix’s acquisition of MainOne, Deel’s acquisition of payroll platform PaySpace, and BioNTech’s acquisition of InstaDeep.
Although global interest rates have stabilized and core markets have slowed, Africa is still experiencing modest double-digit growth in digital payments, connectivity and consumer services. In 2026, the acquisition bar will be even higher, with acquirers only backing high-conviction assets that function more like infrastructure than standalone apps.
4. Private equity and secondaries
According to the AVCA, about a third of business closures in 2023-2024 will be secondary, up from a five-year average of less than 30%. Another AVCA report recorded 20 private equity (PE)-to-PE exits in 2024 alone, providing evidence that the recycling loop is maturing even in a liquidity-challenged environment.
Regional PE funds may acquire early VCs and founders of profitable financial services platforms, and continuation vehicles may incorporate clusters of consumer assets into long-term structures. But for LPs, these are often the difference between a mark-to-cash model and a cash-on-cash model.
IPO revival
Africa’s public markets are slowly reopening to technology deals, but only to a select elite. In late 2025, rare technology listings took place in Johannesburg and Casablanca. South African-linked Optasia and Moroccan fintech Cash Plus have gone public after years of drought.
Across the continent, the share of IPOs in startup exits remains in the low single digits, and there is little to suggest that 2026 will be any different. When liquidity does occur, it is driven by local pension funds, insurance companies, and asset managers rather than a global tech investor base.
Buyer geography
Domestic acquirers already account for just over half of startup exits. If you add in buyers from the African region, the intra-African share is well over 50%. Buyers from the Gulf and MENA countries, often backed by sovereign capital, are taking advantage of their proximity to North and East Africa to gain prominence in fintech, logistics and healthcare.
While US and European strategies continue to underpin big-ticket infrastructure and AI deals, Indian and Japanese companies are increasingly mentioned in outlooks for the healthcare and consumer sectors. This trend shows that African startups are already being acquired by buyers on the continent – companies that are familiar with the names of regulators and are active on the ground.
