Moove Leads Startup Investment In Nigeria, Says Report

By Justice Okamgba

The startup landscape in Nigeria experienced an unprecedented boom, with the latest quarterly report revealing a $466m investment influx in the first quarter of the year.

Moove, a Nigerian mobility startup, led strategic funding initiatives across various sectors, signalling a new era of growth and innovation in the country’s tech ecosystem.

According to the Q1 2024 funding report released by the research firm ‘Africa: The Big Deal’, Moove emerged as a frontrunner in the African startup ecosystem, accounting for a remarkable 24 per cent of the total funds raised by startups across the continent during the first three months of the year.

Within this period, Moove successfully secured a total of $110m, including a $100m Series B round led by Uber.

Despite the impressive performance of Moove, the overall funding landscape experienced a slight downturn, with the report indicating a 27 per cent decrease in total funds raised quarter-on-quarter.

Moreover, the $466m raised by African startups in Q1 2024 was only half of the amount raised in the same period a year earlier in Q1 2023.

The report stated that Moove was the sole African startup to raise more than $25m in Q1 2024, further solidifying its position as a key player in the region’s burgeoning tech scene

“Moove leads with $110m announced this quarter in total: a $100m Series B round led by Uber, and a $10 million debt deal to finance its India expansion. Moove alone attracted 24 per cent of the funding on the continent in Q1, therefore influencing other trends.

“87 per cent of the funding went to start-ups HQ’ed in the Big Four, with 60 per cent going to Nigeria (2/3 of which were the Moove deals) and Kenya. Few other countries managed to claim more than $5m in funding during the period,” the report stated.

According to the report, in terms of $100k+ deals, fintech emerged as the leading sector, with agriculture and food securing the second position.

ClimateTech, spanning across multiple sectors, comprised 31 per cent of $100k+ deals and 27 per cent of the total amount invested.

The report also revealed that equity constituted the majority of disclosed funding by African startups in Q1, representing 71 per cent of the total.

Conversely, debt financing accounted for the remaining 29 per cent.

While equity funding remained stable quarter-on-quarter, the amount of disclosed debt was halved between Q4 2023 and Q1 2024.

Moove was founded by Ladi Delano and Jide Odunsi in 2020. It was founded in response to the challenge faced by over 2 million African mobility entrepreneurs: the lack of access to vehicle financing.

Source: The Punch