The latest report by Startup List Africa has ranked Kenya as the leading country attracting the most startup investments in Africa.
The report titled Top Startup Destinations in Africa 2020, showed that foreign investors poured a substantial Ksh29.3 billion into the country.
According to the report, this represented 25 percent of the total funding channeled to Africa in 2020.
Kenya toppled Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt and Ghana to emerge as the leading investment destination in Africa.
The industries that attracted the highest investments include renewable energy, Agritech and logistics.
Greenlight Planet, solar energy equipment supplier, emerged as the top-funded startup in Kenya securing Ksh9.9 billion, followed by Twiga Foods with Ksh3.2 billion and Komaza, forestry company in Kenya, got Ksh3 billion.
In the past 5 years, investors have been attracted to Kenyan Startups and have increased funding in the country.
Kenya registered a 75.44 % increase in 2020 compared to the year 2019 where foreign investors only poured Ksh16.7 billion.
In the previous years, Kenya got Ksh23.1 billion in 2018, Ksh39.3 billion in 2017 and Ksh11.1 billion in 2016.
The findings were backed up by another report by Briter Bridges titled Africa Investment Report 2020.
The report also revealed that Africa received Ksh264 billion investment funding with solar energy firms getting the lion's share of the funds.
Kenya emerged as the top with most headquarters of the startups situated here.
The country’s economy suffered a huge blow in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic which saw businesses collapse and the gross domestic product decreased by 5.7 percent.
However, the government has projected a 4.6% GDP growth in 2021 with strategies employed in sectors such as agriculture, tourism, manufacturing, infrastructure, technology aimed at wooing foreign investors in the country.
