2025 Private Capital in Africa Activity Report
Analysing trends in private capital activity in Africa.
The 2025 Stears Private Capital in Africa Report analyses African private market transactions for 2025. It examines key trends in private investments, providing valuable insights for fund managers and corporate decision-makers on the countries, industries, and companies attracting private capital.
Key takeaways
Private capital activity remained resilient in 2025: Africa recorded 705 transactions, a modest 4% decline from 734 in 2024, while disclosed deal value held steady at $27.3 billion, supported by a higher disclosure rate of 69%, up from 65% in 2024.
Consumer Staples emerged as an unexpected mega-deal driver: The two largest transactions of 2025 were in the beverage segment, rather than Energy or Financial Services, pointing to renewed confidence in scaled consumer platforms amid improving operating conditions.
Technology and Telecommunications reinforced their frontier status: Beyond consumer staples, large transactions clustered in Telecoms and Technology, including digital infrastructure, reflecting long-term conviction in connectivity and data-driven growth.
M&A activity was a defining feature of 2025: The $2 billion Canal+ buyout of MultiChoice Group led a strong year for strategic acquisitions, with consolidation visible across fintech, logistics, healthcare, and consumer goods.
Startup and scaleup-led consolidation accelerated: Established scaleups increasingly acquired smaller startups or pursued roll-up strategies shortly after fundraising, signalling growing maturity in Africa’s startup ecosystem.
AI investment gained traction at the early stage: While still limited in absolute terms, 2025 marked a clear shift toward applied AI investment, particularly in North Africa, where several of the largest early-stage AI deals were recorded.
Private equity increasingly crossed into venture: Multiple large or mega VC deals (Thunes, Moniepoint, Nawy), all involving PE participation, reflects growing crossover activity as PE firms seek growth exposure earlier in the company lifecycle.
Financial Services strengthened its sector lead: Financial Services accounted for 27% of all deals in 2025, up sharply from 17% in 2024, while the top three sectors captured 52% of all activity, indicating rising concentration in dominant sectors.
Debt financing overtook M&A by transaction volume: While equity still accounted for 57% of transactions, debt financing became more prominent, particularly in Agriculture (54%), Consumer Staples (42%), and Energy (40%), reflecting shifts in deal structuring amid tighter equity conditions.
West Africa remained the leading regional hub: The region accounted for 38% of all transactions, ahead of Southern Africa (32%) and East Africa (29%), while South Africa led at country level with 25% of deals, followed by Nigeria (23%), Kenya (19%), and Egypt (14%).
Overview of private capital transaction activity
Africa’s private capital market remained buoyant in 2025, with a mild 4% year-on-year decline in deal volume from 734 in 2024 to 705 in 2025. Disclosed transaction value also remained relatively stable, registering at $27.3 billion (69% disclosure rate), compared to $28.7 billion recorded in 2024 (65% disclosure rate).
175 transactions were recorded in Q4 2025 alone, down from 186 in Q3 2025. In value terms, however, Q4 stood out. Disclosed deal value in Q4 2025 totalled $13.2 billion, accounting for nearly half of 2025 disclosed transaction value, and a sharp increase from $5.2 billion in Q3 2025, highlighting a pronounced back-loading of deal value into the final quarter of the year. As in previous years, late-year closings of large strategic and infrastructure-linked transactions played a significant role in shaping annual outcomes. Three of the top five largest 2025 deals closed in Q4 (two out of five in 2024), including the two largest transactions: Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company (Coca-Cola HBC) buying a 75% controlling interest in Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) from The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC) and Gutsche Family Investments and Asahi Group Holdings acquiring Diageo’s stakes in East African Breweries and United Distillers Vintners Kenya (UDVK).
Ticket Sizes: Consumer Staples drive mega deals
Despite the concentration of value in a handful of large transactions, FY 2025 deal activity continued to be dominated by smaller ticket sizes.
Transactions valued below $10 million accounted for over half of all disclosed deals, reinforcing the importance of micro, seed, and early growth-stage investments in Africa’s private capital ecosystem. Specifically, deals under $2.5 million represented 27% of disclosed transactions, while those in the $2.5 million to $10 million range accounted for a further 23%.
The share of mega transactions ($75 million+) remained broadly flat year-on-year, accounting for 15% of disclosed deals in 2025, compared with 14% in 2024. This stability points to a steady pipeline of large-scale transactions, signalling sustained investor confidence in Africa’s capacity to absorb and execute complex, high-value deals, even amid a more cautious global capital environment.
Amid this, 2025 still stood out in terms of scale and composition. Only one transaction exceeded the $2 billion mark in 2024—the $2.4 billion acquisition of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria. In contrast, five transactions crossed $2 billion in 2025, showing a notable step-up in the upper end of the market.
Strikingly, the two largest transactions in 2025 were not in Energy or Financial Services, sectors that have historically dominated Africa’s biggest deals. Instead, they were concentrated in Consumer Staples, specifically the beverage industry. Given the recent pressure on consumer spending across many African markets, driven by high inflation and currency depreciation, these transactions point to growing confidence in the long-term recovery and resilience of consumer demand and the strategic importance of scaled consumer platforms.
Beyond consumer staples, the remaining mega transactions were concentrated in Telecommunications and Technology, reinforcing the view that these sectors represent frontier industries for Africa’s next phase of growth. In particular, Group 42’s $2.2 billion acquisition of a 40% stake in Khazna Data Center in Egypt highlights growing conviction around digital infrastructure as a core pillar of the continent’s future. The transaction reflects the convergence of secular digitalisation trends, rising data consumption, and long-term economic expansion, positioning data infrastructure as an increasingly critical asset class within Africa’s private capital landscape.
Mergers & Acquisitions in 2025
2025 was a strong year for major M&A activity across Africa, led by the $2 billion Canal+ buyout of the remaining 54% stake in MultiChoice Group, which stood out as the single largest transaction of the year. Beyond this headline deal, several broader M&A themes emerged across regions and sectors.
Startup consolidation: One of the clearest signals of market maturity was the continued rise in startup and scaleup-led acquisitions. As Africa’s startup ecosystem evolves, M&A is increasingly becoming a natural outcome of scale, funding, and competitive positioning. Much of this activity involved established scaleups acquiring smaller startups, as well as recently funded companies pursuing inorganic growth or roll-up strategies shortly after closing large funding rounds. This trend was visible across multiple regions.
In Southern Africa, payments company Stitch followed up its $55 million Series B raise in 2025 by acquiring Efficacy Payments and ExiPay Technologies, strengthening its payments infrastructure stack. Elsewhere on the continent, Moniepoint sandwiched its recent mega fundraising rounds with the acquisition of Sumac Microfinance Bank in Kenya. In North Africa, MaxAB-Wasoko, the B2B e-commerce and fintech platform formed from the 2024 merger of Egypt-based MaxAB and Kenya-based Wasoko, acquired Egypt-based Futara, an asset-light B2B marketplace previously owned by EFG Finance. Still in Egypt, healthtech startup Duaya acquired EXMGO, a SaaS platform providing operational tools for pharmacies, highlighting growing consolidation within vertical-specific software.
Logistics in Morocco: Logistics also saw notable M&A activity in North Africa. ORA Technologies followed up its $7.5 million Series A round by acquiring Cathedis, a last-mile delivery specialist, as it expanded its logistics capabilities. In Morocco, Buildings & Logistic Services acquired road freight operator Transload MA, adding more than 100 trucks to its fleet. The transaction reflects growing consolidation in a logistics market projected to reach $16.32 billion by 2030, as operators seek scale to improve efficiency and coverage.
Food & Beverage sector: The Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages sector was particularly active, reflecting sustained interest in scaled consumer and agri-processing assets. Notable transactions included Woodlands Dairy Group’s $49 million acquisition of Ladismith Cheese Company in South Africa and UAC’s $119 million acquisition of CHI Limited in Nigeria, both of which point to strategic consolidation in essential consumer goods.
Nigerian financial services and regulations: In Nigeria’s Financial Services sector, M&A activity was further shaped by new regulatory requirements across banking, pensions, and insurance. Higher minimum capital thresholds and tighter prudential standards have accelerated consolidation, as smaller institutions seek strategic partners or exit opportunities. While several operators remain below the new capital requirements, this creates near-term entry points for investors. Over the medium term, the post-recapitalisation landscape is expected to produce stronger, better-capitalised pension funds and insurers, making the sector more attractive to larger fund managers seeking scale, stability, and long-term returns.
Venture Activity in 2025: AI begins to attract interest
As expected, venture capital activity in 2025 was concentrated at the early stages, with Pre-Series A rounds accounting for 61% of all VC deals. While most early-stage rounds were relatively small, some of the largest disclosed early-stage deals were concentrated in AI-focused companies. Notable transactions included the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) $10 million investment in Kera Health, Egyptian semiconductor startup InfiniLink’s $10 million seed round, and Thunder Code SAS, an AI-powered software testing company, which raised $9 million from investors including Janngo Capital and Titan Capital.
Although AI funding remains relatively limited in Africa, largely because much of the underlying research and development still takes place outside the continent, 2025 marked a clear shift toward more meaningful AI investment. This trend was most visible at the early stage, where investors were willing to place targeted bets on applied AI use cases. The trend was also more prominent in North Africa, as seen in the table below.
Outside AI deals, the year was also noteworthy because as many as three disclosed venture deals fell into mega-deal territory in 2025: Thunes, Moniepoint, and Nawy. Among these, Nawy’s $75 million debt and equity raise was particularly notable as one of the largest Series A rounds ever recorded in Africa, highlighting growing appetite for platform-scale opportunities even at relatively early stages.
A defining feature of these mega VC deals was the active participation of private equity investors, reinforcing a broader trend of PE firms increasingly crossing into venture and growth-stage investing. This crossover reflects several structural factors, including the maturation of Africa’s technology ecosystem, challenging macroeconomic conditions across more traditional PE sectors, and relatively constrained PE deal pipelines in some markets. Together, these dynamics have encouraged general partners to deploy capital earlier in the company lifecycle, while offering limited partners exposure to high-growth technology opportunities that may not yet fit traditional buyout profiles.
2025 Investor League Tables
Development finance institutions (DFI) like IFC and Norfund continued to dominate Africa’s private capital market in 2025. IFC ranked first by deal volume and second for deal value (only behind British International Investment) and was also the most prominent lead investor.
Several non-DFI investors also featured prominently. Agribusiness funder Sahel Capital was prolific with nine recorded investments as the fund expanding into Francophone West Africa with investments in Benin and Cameroon, venture capital firms like Renew Capital, Flourish Ventures, and Launch Africa anchored that space, and more debt investments meant greater activity from Cascador and Cygnum Capital Asset Management.
2025 Sectoral insights
Africa’s Big 5 (Financial Services, Energy, Consumer Discretionary, Information Technology, and Industrials) retained their positions as the top five sectors in 2025, although there was notable movement within the group. Financial Services came in first as in 2024, but with a greater share—27% vs 17%, followed by Information Technology (16%) and Consumer Discretionary (14%).
Overall, deal activity in 2025 was more concentrated in the dominant sectors than in the previous year. The top three sectors accounted for 52% of all deals in 2025, compared with 28% in 2024. This concentration also reflected a shift in sector composition. Industrials and Energy & Utilities, which are typically associated with asset-heavy and project-financed transactions, gave way to Consumer Discretionary and Technology as higher-activity sectors. While this shift should be interpreted cautiously, it is consistent with improving operating conditions for consumer-facing and technology-enabled businesses, following several years of pressure on household spending and business costs across African markets.
At the sub-sector level, Financial Services verticals stood out most clearly. Payments infrastructure recorded the highest number of deals, accounting for 26% of all Financial Services transactions and around 7% of total deal activity across all sectors. This continued dominance highlights the sustained flow of capital into African payments platforms, driven by large addressable markets and ongoing digitisation.
Within Technology, Application Software emerged as the most active sub-sector, representing 35% of Technology deals and around 6% of all transactions. This reflects continued investor interest in software-led business models, particularly those serving enterprise, financial, and operational use cases. MSME lending ranked as the third most active sub-sector, accounting for 21% of Financial Services deals and just over 5% of all transactions. Other leading sub-sectors included Road Transport within Industrials, Crop Production within Agriculture, and E-commerce within Consumer Discretionary, underscoring the breadth of activity across both essential services and consumer-oriented platforms.
Energy in Focus: Rise of receivables financing
In 2025, the Energy sector showed signs of increased financing maturity. Traditionally, senior debt and other project finance structures have been the preferred financing tools, reflecting the combination of long-lived infrastructure assets, predictable cash flows, and construction and operational risks.
While these structures remained dominant, 2025 saw greater variety in financing approaches, particularly through the growth of receivables financing and securitisation. In February 2024, d.light completed a full exit from its $110 million securitisation vehicle, Brighter Life Kenya 1 Limited, setting the stage for the expansion of its securitisation programme to purchase more than $300 million of receivables. Similarly, Sun King closed a $156 million local-currency securitisation facility, the largest commercial bank securitisation completed outside South Africa.
The growth of receivables financing is a positive development for the sector. It improves the bankability of distributed energy assets by recycling capital more efficiently, while also broadening the investor base by offering exposure to diversified, cash-generating portfolios rather than single-project risk.
2025 Sectoral trends across regions
West Africa: Financial Services dominated private capital activity in West Africa, accounting for 31% of regional transactions, more than twice the share of the second-largest sector, Energy & Utilities, at 15%. Part of this activity was driven by regulatory developments, particularly new capital requirements introduced across financial services beginning in 2024. Higher capital thresholds in banking, pensions, and insurance have encouraged consolidation, balance-sheet strengthening, and strategic investments, contributing to increased transaction activity in the sector.
Southern Africa: In Southern Africa, Communication Services emerged as a relative standout. While the sector ranked fifth within South Africa, accounting for 8% of South African transactions, this was still well above the regional average of 5%. South Africa’s outsized role explains this pattern. The country accounted for 47% of all Communication Services transactions recorded across Africa, reinforcing its position as the continent’s primary hub for telecoms, digital infrastructure, and connectivity-related investments. Notable transactions here include Norwegian cloud communications platform (CPaaS) Link Mobility Group purchasing South Africa’s leading CPaaS aggregator SMSPortal for $115 million and South African fibre infrastructure firm Vumatel completing its acquisition of Herotel, an internet service provider by securing the remaining ~50% stake.
East Africa: Deal activity in East Africa was led by Financial Services, Consumer Discretionary, and Energy, but the region also stood out for its exposure to other sectors. East Africa recorded the second-highest share of agriculture transactions, accounting for 38% of all agriculture deals, behind West Africa at 42%. This reflects continued interest from development finance institutions and SME-focused funds targeting food production, horticulture, and related value chains. Cold storage and logistics remained an important theme within this activity, supporting agricultural productivity and market access. Notably, Cold Solutions East Africa Holdings Limited (CSEAHL), the cold storage platform owned by ARCH Emerging Partners, secured a $20 million investment from Inspired Evolution Investment Management, while its subsidiary operations in Uganda (Cold Solutions Kazi) obtained a $18 million senior debt facility from Cygnum Capital.
Central Africa: In Central Africa, Energy was a key driver of transaction activity, accounting for 26% of regional deals, second only to Financial Services. This represents a significant overrepresentation relative to Energy’s 13% share of total African transactions. Central Africa accounted for 18% of all Energy deals across the continent, despite representing only 9% of total African deal activity. This highlights the region’s disproportionate role in Energy investments, driven largely by power generation, transmission, and cross-border infrastructure projects.
North Africa: North Africa continued to lead Africa in Information Technology investments, accounting for 39% of all IT transactions, ahead of Southern Africa at 36%. This pattern has been consistent over several years, reflecting the depth of the region’s technology ecosystem, particularly in Egypt and Morocco. Against this backdrop, it is not unusual that early-stage capital flowing into AI-focused startups has increasingly originated in North Africa. The region’s strength in software, engineering talent, and enterprise technology has positioned it as a natural entry point for applied AI investment on the continent.
Transaction types across sectors
Equity remained the dominant transaction type in 2025, accounting for 57% of all recorded deals, broadly unchanged year on year. While equity continued to anchor private capital activity, the most notable shift in 2025 was debt financing overtaking M&A by deal count, extending a multi-year trend of rising debt use across African private markets.
This shift reflects changes in how capital is being structured rather than a move away from equity. As equity deal activity slowed after the 2021 peak, fund managers remained active by incorporating debt and debt-like instruments into existing PE and VC backed relationships. Slower exits, weaker public markets, and valuation pressure have made long-duration equity harder to underwrite, increasing the appeal of debt’s contractual cash returns. At the same time, higher interest rates, FX volatility, and tighter bank lending have widened the gap between bank credit and equity, particularly for mid-market firms. Private debt has increasingly filled this gap, supporting working capital, asset finance, and balance-sheet resilience in sectors with more predictable cash flows.
Debt financing was most prevalent in Agriculture, where it accounted for 54% of all sector transactions, reflecting the cash-flow-driven nature of agribusiness and input supply chains. Consumer Staples also recorded a high share of debt activity, with 42% of deals involving debt, while Energy followed at 40%, consistent with the sector’s reliance on structured and asset-backed financing. Within Energy, project finance remained a key feature, accounting for 20% of all energy transactions, highlighting the continued importance of long-tenor, infrastructure-style financing for power generation and related assets.
Healthcare stood out for its exit activity, recording the highest exit share of any sector at 21%. This reflects growing strategic interest in healthcare distribution, pharmacy networks, and medical supply chains as the sector matures. Notable healthcare exits in the year include Old Mutual Private Equity exiting Medhold Group (a medical device supplier) to Sanlam Private Equity, LeapFrog Investments exiting Goodlife Pharmacy to CFAO Healthcare and Amethis' exit from Vicenne in North Africa. Pharmacy retail across most African markets remains highly fragmented, dominated by single-outlet operators with limited scale and weak systems, creating a clear opportunity for platform models that can consolidate demand and improve operational efficiency.
Finally, M&A activity was most concentrated in Communication Services and Information Technology. Communication Services recorded an M&A share of 29%, while IT followed with 22%, underscoring continued consolidation in connectivity, digital infrastructure, and software-enabled businesses.
2025 Regional Dynamics
West Africa remained the most active investment destination for another year, accounting for 38% of all recorded transactions. The region continued to lead activity ahead of Southern Africa, which accounted for 32% of deals, and East Africa, at 29%, reinforcing West Africa’s position as the primary hub for private capital activity on the continent.
2025 Country Insights
At the country level, South Africa once again ranked as the most active market, accounting for 25% of all deals. The rest of Africa’s “Big 5” markets followed closely, with Nigeria accounting for 23% of transactions, Kenya 19%, Egypt 14%, and Ghana 11%. Together, these markets continued to attract the majority of private capital activity, reflecting their relative market depth and deal flow consistency.
Beyond the Big 5, several East African countries stood out by overall deal exposure. Uganda and Tanzania each accounted for 9% of total transactions, ranking among the most active markets outside the continent’s largest economies. However, this activity was driven largely by regional-level investments, where companies operate across multiple East African markets. This is reflected in the fact that Uganda and Tanzania each accounted for only 1% of single-country transactions, indicating that their deal volumes are primarily linked to cross-border and regional platforms rather than domestic-only investments.
This contrasts with Morocco, which accounted for 8% of all transactions, lower than Uganda and Tanzania by total deal share, but 5% of all single-country deals, exceeding Ghana’s 2% share of single-country transactions. This highlights Morocco’s strength as a standalone investment destination, particularly within North Africa.
More broadly, North African markets continued to perform strongly on a single-country basis. While South Africa recorded the highest share of single-country investments at 16% of all deals, Egypt ranked second with 11%, narrowly ahead of Nigeria, also at 11%. This pattern underscores the appeal of larger, more self-contained markets where investments can be underwritten on domestic fundamentals rather than regional expansion strategies.
2025 Sectoral trends across regions
West Africa: Financial Services dominated private capital activity in West Africa, accounting for 31% of regional transactions, more than twice the share of the second-largest sector, Energy & Utilities, at 15%. Part of this activity was driven by regulatory developments, particularly new capital requirements introduced across financial services beginning in 2024. Higher capital thresholds in banking, pensions, and insurance have encouraged consolidation, balance-sheet strengthening, and strategic investments, contributing to increased transaction activity in the sector.
Southern Africa: In Southern Africa, Communication Services emerged as a relative standout. While the sector ranked fifth within South Africa, accounting for 8% of South African transactions, this was still well above the regional average of 5%. South Africa’s outsized role explains this pattern. The country accounted for 47% of all Communication Services transactions recorded across Africa, reinforcing its position as the continent’s primary hub for telecoms, digital infrastructure, and connectivity-related investments. Notable transactions here include Norwegian cloud communications platform (CPaaS) Link Mobility Group purchasing South Africa’s leading CPaaS aggregator SMSPortal for $115 million and South African fibre infrastructure firm Vumatel completing its acquisition of Herotel, an internet service provider by securing the remaining ~50% stake.
East Africa: Deal activity in East Africa was led by Financial Services, Consumer Discretionary, and Energy, but the region also stood out for its exposure to other sectors. East Africa recorded the second-highest share of agriculture transactions, accounting for 38% of all agriculture deals, behind West Africa at 42%. This reflects continued interest from development finance institutions and SME-focused funds targeting food production, horticulture, and related value chains. Cold storage and logistics remained an important theme within this activity, supporting agricultural productivity and market access. Notably, Cold Solutions East Africa Holdings Limited (CSEAHL), the cold storage platform owned by ARCH Emerging Partners, secured a $20 million investment from Inspired Evolution Investment Management, while its subsidiary operations in Uganda (Cold Solutions Kazi) obtained a $18 million senior debt facility from Cygnum Capital.
Central Africa: In Central Africa, Energy was a key driver of transaction activity, accounting for 26% of regional deals, second only to Financial Services. This represents a significant overrepresentation relative to Energy’s 13% share of total African transactions. Central Africa accounted for 18% of all Energy deals across the continent, despite representing only 9% of total African deal activity. This highlights the region’s disproportionate role in Energy investments, driven largely by power generation, transmission, and cross-border infrastructure projects.
North Africa: North Africa continued to lead Africa in Information Technology investments, accounting for 39% of all IT transactions, ahead of Southern Africa at 36%. This pattern has been consistent over several years, reflecting the depth of the region’s technology ecosystem, particularly in Egypt and Morocco. Against this backdrop, it is not unusual that early-stage capital flowing into AI-focused startups has increasingly originated in North Africa. The region’s strength in software, engineering talent, and enterprise technology has positioned it as a natural entry point for applied AI investment on the continent.
Methodology
This report is derived exclusively from the Stears Private Transactions Database, accessible through the Stears Data Platform. The database monitors private market activity in Africa, focusing on growth equity, private equity, private debt, infrastructure financing, and mergers and acquisitions. Transactions in the database are compiled from reliable third-party sources, such as company websites, press releases, and investor reports, and at least two separate sources independently verify each recorded transaction.
Geographical and Sector Classifications
A single transaction may be associated with multiple countries/regions or sectors, reflecting the operational scope of the company involved. Consequently, regional and sector totals often exceed the underlying total number of transactions. As such, percentage shares in geographical and sector analyses will not sum to 100%.
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