Worrying trend for funding for female-founded startups in African tech

The levels of gender diversity among funded African tech startups since Disrupt Africa started collecting data on the subject in 2021 have peaked and troughed, but numbers from 2024, 2025 and 2026 point to a worrying trend.

That is according to the third edition of “Diversity Dividend: Exploring Gender Equality in the African Tech Ecosystem”, the regular deep-dive into the state of gender diversity in the African startup and VC ecosystems released by Disrupt Africa in partnership with Madica, Thinkroom and Jumpstarter Crowdfunding.

The report contains both quantitative and qualitative data – quantifying female founders in the ecosystem, as well as their access to funding and opportunities, and speaking to them – and investors – directly about their experiences within the ecosystem. It also features personalised case studies, and is free to download here.

In 2021, of the 564 startups that raised funding, 121 (21.5%) had a female co-founder, and 66 (11.7%) a female CEO. In 2022, when 633 startups raised, the representation of women slightly declined, to 128 (20.2%) with a female co-founder, and 69 (10.9%) with a female CEO.

2023 gave a boost to gender diversity from a funding perspective, even as fewer African tech startups actually raised. Of the 406 ventures that secured investment that year, 107 (26.3%) had a woman on their founding team, and 62 (15.3%) were led by a female CEO.

However, there was a setback in 2024, when the number of funded startups on the continent continued to fall, to 200 startups, and gender diversity also took a hit. Thirty-seven (18.5%) of funded startups had a woman on their founding team, and 25 (12.5%) had a female CEO, a significant drop-off in diversity.

That trend has continued. In 2025, of the 178 startups funded, only 30 (16.9%) included a woman in their founding team, and just 17 (9.6%) were led by a female CEO. And while it is too early to say what the whole of 2026 will bring, so far it is a mixed bag. Of the 60 startups funded in the first five months of the year, 11 (18.3%) have a female co-founder, which is up share-wise on 2025, and five (8.3%) a female CEO, down share-wise on last year.

In 2021, of the US$2,148,517,500 raised, US$252,602,500 (11.8%) went to ventures with a female co-founder and US$168,916,000 (7.9%) to those led by a female CEO. Share of funding for ventures including women in leadership roles decreased in 2022, when 9.3 per cent went to those with a female co-founder and 2.8 per cent those with a female CEO.

These figures rebounded in 2023, with startups co-founded by women accounting for 16.6 per cent of total capital raised, and 8.2 per cent to those whose CEO was a woman. Yet those shares fell to 7.1 per cent and 5.4 per cent respectively in 2024.

2025 saw an improvement in gender diversity from a share of funding perspective, with 12.8 per cent of funding going to ventures with at least one female co-founder, and 7.9 per cent of it to those with a female CEO. But the indications from the available data from 2026 are that gender diversity is set to take a further hit, with just 7.1 per cent of capital allocated so far this year going to startups with a woman co-founder, and as little as 2.8 per cent to those led by a woman.

To download the report for free, please go here, or email Gabriella on [email protected], or Tom on [email protected].