Why Nigeria leads the way in YC’s participation in Africa

Image Credits: TechCrunch

It is not a coincidence that more African startups have been covered by TechCrunch in the last year than any other period. Many of those companies are Nigerian, and we can see why. According to Partech, a pan-African VC firm that also tracks investments, the country collected more than $1.8 billion, 34% of the $5 billion raised across the continent.

The last three years have seen steady progress for the country as the leading African startup market. 42% of Africa's total VC investment was invested in startups based in Nigeria. The number of dollars spent decreased to $307 million, or 21% of the total, in the following year.

YC W22 batch nets 24 African startups, including 18 from Nigeria

Thanks to a global boom in venture capital activity last year, Nigeria became the first African country to singlehandedly cross the billion-dollar mark while also collecting bragging rights as the preferred destination for mega-investors like Tiger Global and SoftBank.

Y Combinator is paying attention

The optimism in Nigeria's tech community and belief that better days are ahead are unsurprising, despite questions around investors and the valuations of some of the nation's startups.

No seed-stage company in the country is better priced than those in the Y Combinator club. The first startup class graduated yesterday with new terms. The new standard deal at YC features more capital and prices are higher than ever. Only 10% of the current Y Combinator class had monthly revenue of more than $50,000 when they were accepted into the program.

There is another interesting stat concerning Nigeria shared by the accelerator. It is the first African country to have the third-largest representation when categorized by country. That is a milestone for Nigeria, but also an indication of how quickly the African startup scene has developed.