Top Startups in Nigeria in 2022

Given the number of innovative firms that are emerging every day in Africa, Nigeria continues to aggressively dominate the continent's startup ecosystem. Realizing this, it is no surprise that the nation is bringing in the most money on the continent as local and global investors continue to invest in startups across the country.

For instance, the tech sector raked in a total of $678 million between January and April of this year through 107 distinct agreements, according to Renaissance Capital's Africa Tech and Fintech report. Local investors in tech startups accounted for 31% of the $2.2 billion in funding raised by these tech companies over the course of the four months.

These tech startups garnered up to 35% of the total funding for African startups in the previous year. The nation has reached a previously unheard-of milestone in its technological ecosystem as young people with a passion for technology continue to develop goods and services that deal with the numerous issues that not only Nigeria but the entire African continent face.

Nigeria's startup ecosystem is without a doubt the envy of its counterparts across the continent as a result of the huge success of tech firms there.

Nigerian startups, especially tech startups raised millions of dollars from venture capitalists and angel investors in Q2 2022, however not to the same extent as the previous quarter's figures. 

Here are the top Nigerian startups making headlines across industries such as fintech, proptech, edtech, aggrotech, etc.

Flutterwave

Flutterwave, the largest startup firm in Africa, is a fintech provider of payment infrastructure to both local and international retailers and payment services across Africa.

Flutterwave has executed more than 200 million transactions totaling more than $16 billion. The business raised $170 million in a Series C investment last year.  It targeted mergers and acquisitions with a burgeoning existing client base early this year, raising another $250 million in February in its best investment round to date, increasing its valuation to almost $3 billion.

Interswitch

In the second quarter of fiscal 2022, Interswitch, one of Africa's top fintech companies, closed the largest deal ever for a Nigerian startup when it received $110 million in funding from LeapFrog Investments and Tana Africa Capital to expand its digital payment services across the continent.

Nearly three years had passed since Interswitch received its last publicly known fundraising round, in which Visa invested $200 million for a 20% share in the business.   Interswitch is well known for its point-of-sale terminals, online consumer payment platforms, Quickteller, and Verve, the continent's largest debit card service. It also powers a sizable percentage of Nigeria's online banking system.

Spleet

On its website, Spleet features premium residences that its owners have listed for rent. Prospective tenants can explore the residences that Spleet has to offer on its website, and after perusing the alternatives, they can reserve a place. Additionally, they have the option of paying for the lodging daily, monthly, or quarterly. Akintola Adesanmi and Dolapo Adebayo founded Spleet in 2017, and it recently entered Metaprop, the largest PropTech accelerator in the world. Future Africa is one of its investors. Spleet recently completed a $2.6 million seed investment round, with MaC Venture Capital as the round's lead investor, to expand its residential rent management and rent finance offerings.

Rent Small Small

Rent Small Small is an online proptech where homeowners and landlords can post listings for their properties on the website, complete with images and other information that could help prospective renters compare their alternatives. The platform assists with rental agreements, property management, maintenance, as well as scheduling visits to properties. According to the startup, renters have been able to avoid paying hundreds of thousands of naira in legal and agency expenses. It does, however, levy a commission on rent. Tunde Balogun, Naomi Olaghere, and Pindlah Triadah founded Rent Small Small in 2017 with funding from TechStars. Techstars is an operational investment firm that supports founders and early-stage business owners in turning their vision into a successful enterprise.

Moove

Moove is a global mobility fintech company that offers vehicle financing on the basis of revenue to mobility entrepreneurs worldwide. The startup reportedly raised $105 million in a series A2 investment which was oversubscribed in order to scale to seven new regions throughout Asia and Europe the after a six-month period.

The company, which debuted in 2020 with its credit scoring system, is continually looking for ways to offer revenue-based financing to mobility entrepreneurs in markets with limited access to credit. Since its debut, Moove has quickly expanded its reach to the Middle East, Asia, and Europe as well as other African nations like Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, and South Africa.

ThriveAgric

Thrive Agric is an agrotech startup that offers small-scale farmers access to capital, competitive markets, and data-driven advice. The startup secured a $56.4 million debt funding from institutional investors earlier this year. 

A $1.75 million co-investment grant was also given to the startup by USAID-funded West Africa Trade and Investment. With this new funding, the company will be able to reach new markets across Africa and increase its base of 200,000 farmers. Additionally, the firm wants to create the biggest network of prosperous African farmers.

Reliance Health

Reliance Health is a healthcare startup that leverages technology to improve access and affordability of healthcare. It makes use of these essential elements so that customers can subscribe to a developing range of healthcare products.

General Atlantic, a renowned worldwide growth equity investor, led a $40 million Series B fundraising round for the new company in February of this year.

uLesson

uLesson is an online educational platform designed to support students at all academic levels in their success. A $15 million Series B funding round was successfully completed by the three-year-old startup last year. Eleven months prior, uLesson raised $7.5 million in Series A funding from five investors, including Tencent, Nielsen Ventures, Owl Ventures, TLcom Capital, and Founder Collective.

Sim Shagaya, a serial entrepreneur from Nigeria who founded uLesson in 2019, launched it just before the pandemic began to spread in 2020. uLesson is one of the country's thriving edtech startups. Its initial offerings included customized SD cards and dongles containing pre-recorded videos for K-12 students. The startup now offers clients the option of streaming classes or downloading them to personal SD cards. 

Hubforjobs.

And then you have Hubforjobs, Hubforjobs is a startup in Nigeria, they are focused on tackling the unemployment issues in Nigeria.  Hubforjobs posts jobs in Lagos, and Jobs in Abuja, and they help startups to hire the best talents in the industry.