Blockchain funding in Africa jumps 5x in 2022

Despite the challenging year of 2022, which saw several major players disappear from the global cryptocurrency scene, the blockchain community on the African continent has continued to attract massive investments, which have recorded a five-fold increase on the yearly level.

Indeed, blockchain venture funding in Africa amounted to $89.6 million in 2021, only to soar to $474 million (or nearly 430%) in 2022, being the only region to record a triple-digit percentage increase in its share of the total global blockchain venture dollars raised, as per the African Blockchain Report 2022 published on April 18.

Africa vs. world

According to the research, which the blockchain-focused investment company CV VC carried out in cooperation with Standard Bank, a financial services provider centering on supporting Africa’s growth and development, these results illustrate a higher funding growth rate than in any other region:

“African blockchain startups raised a total of $474m in 2022, an annual YoY funding increase of 429% compared to the $90m in 2021. Africa has a higher funding growth rate than any region. In the US, funding was similar to 2021 at $15.2b, while Asia and Europe’s funding increased by 50% and 35% YoY to $4.74b and $4.88b, respectively.”

In terms of specific countries, Seychelles and South Africa accounted for the vast majority, or 81%, of African blockchain venture funding during 2022, with the former raising $208 million and the latter $177 million, as the report states. Furthermore, Africa’s blockchain-focused annual funding growth was 759% higher than that of Asia, which was the second-best performer.

On top of that, Africa was the only region to experience an increase in median deal size (the median amount of money received by businesses per closed deal) in 2022, which grew by 58% and reached $1.5 million. Moreover:

“In Africa, blockchain funding achieved a record 15% share of all sector-agnostic venture funds raised by the continent, more than double the global average, highlighting the continent’s continued emergence as a promising investment destination for blockchain-based startups.”

Interestingly, Africa’s notable progress in the area of venture capitalist (VC) funding was already evident in mid-2022. As it happens, in August 2022, Finbold reported on the African blockchain companies’ successes during the first half of that year, having recorded $304 million in funding, almost triple the amount received across 2021.