Africa’s startup funding landscape showed signs of life in 2025 after two difficult years, but for women-led companies, the recovery has brought little relief. Even as capital flows picked up, the structural gaps that keep female founders on the margins of venture funding remain firmly in place.

Less than 10 percent of all venture capital deployed across Africa in 2025 went to startups with at least one female founder, according to the Africa Investment Report 2025 by research firm Briter. The figure highlights how deeply entrenched gender disparities are within the continent’s investment ecosystem, despite rising deal volumes and renewed investor activity.

African startups raised about US$3.8 billion across more than 630 disclosed deals in 2025, marking a year-on-year increase. Yet much of that capital was concentrated in a narrow group of late-stage companies and capital-intensive sectors, limiting access for women-led ventures that tend to operate in early-stage, consumer-facing and impact-driven spaces.

Nigeria’s role makes the imbalance harder to ignore. As Africa’s largest startup market and one of the four ecosystems that absorb the bulk of venture capital on the continent, Nigeria shapes investor behaviour far beyond its borders. When women-led startups struggle to access funding in Nigeria, the effect ripples across Africa’s innovation economy. Yet the funding rebound has largely reinforced old allocation patterns, favouring male-led companies at scale while leaving female founders clustered at the early margins of growth.

Where the funding gap widens

Briter’s report shows that the exclusion becomes more pronounced at the top end of the market. Mega-deals of US$50 million and above accounted for roughly a quarter of all disclosed funding in 2025, but these rounds overwhelmingly went to male-dominated founding teams, widening the gap at the scale-up stage.

“The gender funding gap is not a short-term anomaly; it is structural,” the report noted, pointing to limited access to investor networks, lower risk tolerance toward women-led businesses and the concentration of capital in sectors such as fintech infrastructure, energy and mobility, where female founders remain underrepresented.

Women-led startups were more visible at early stages, particularly in education, health, agriculture and social-impact sectors, but scaling remained difficult. Median deal sizes stayed low in 2025, and follow-on funding proved elusive as investors prioritised capital efficiency and established revenue models.

Evidence from Nigeria reinforces the picture. A Moniepoint report on women-owned businesses found that over 40 percent of women rely on personal savings to start or sustain their enterprises, while nearly 60 percent seek external financing, often from informal sources such as family and friends. Even then, the report estimates a financing gap of 32 percent, with women more likely to receive smaller ticket sizes or be shut out entirely as their businesses grow.

This stands in contrast to repayment data. According to industry stakeholders, Nigerian women have consistently demonstrated strong creditworthiness, challenging assumptions that continue to shape lending and investment decisions. “About 95 percent of Nigerian women have already proven their ability to repay loans on time,” said Osasu Igbinedion-Ogwuche, founder of TOS Group, arguing that financial institutions must rethink collateral-heavy lending models that exclude women-led enterprises.

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Others point to policy failures. Fifehan Osikanlu, founder of Eden Venture Group, said improving access to capital for female founders requires deliberate government and institutional reforms, not passive market corrections.

While alternative financing options such as grants, debt and blended finance are gaining ground, analysts warn that equity funding will not rebalance on its own. Without intentional shifts by investors, fund managers and policymakers, the recovery risks reinforcing exclusion rather than broadening opportunity.

Sarah Ngamau, managing director and partner at Moremi Fund, said bold target-setting is essential. “We need audacious benchmarks, more female partners, more carry allocated to women and clear portfolio targets that force change,” she said.

Separate data from Africa: The Big Deal shows total startup funding across equity, debt and grants rose to US$3.2 billion in 2025, a 40 percent increase from the previous year. But the rebound has done little to shift who benefits from capital.

For women-led startups, Africa’s funding recovery is not yet a story of inclusion. Instead, it raises a more uncomfortable question: whether the continent’s next growth cycle is being built on the same exclusions as the last.

Meiza Nigeria