Kenya emerged as the top destination in Africa for investors scouting opportunities in the past year, a new report has revealed.
The report titled, Africa Investment Report 2023, published by United Kingdom's research-based firm Briter Bridges, ranked the leading destinations couched as attractive propositions in the past 365 days.
Kenya topped the list with investors pumping over Ksh131 billion (806 million USD), followed by Egypt with Ksh110 billion (675 million USD), Nigeria with Ksh93 billion (575 million USD) and South Africa with Ksh92 billion (565 million USD).
The report highlighted that the top four countries solidified their positions in creating suitable environments to attract investment.
"The top four markets, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt continue to solidify their positions as the lead destinations for funding especially as they increasingly act as regional headquarters for companies expanding towards neighbouring countries," read part of the report.
On the other hand, Rwanda was ranked sixth, attracting Ksh57 billion worth of investment projects during the period under review.
Rwanda alongside Tunisia, Benin and Ghana received Ksh57 billion, Ksh74 million and Ksh11 billion respectively.
On the other hand, neighbouring countries, Tanzania and Uganda were ranked as emerging ecosystems that piqued investors' interest in 2023.
Nigeria led in the number of investment deals, closing over 250 transactions, followed by Kenya with 160, South Africa with 130, and Ghana with 65.
"Several other locations are emerging as hotspots for funding largely driven by a few mega deals or new investors focusing on new geographies," read part of the report.
"Among these Tunisia and Rwanda have been quickly catching up to funding volumes received by the 'Big Four', largely led by a few mammoth-size deals into companies like Zipline and InstaDeep."
In total, these funds were driven to various sectors including fintech, cleantech, health, IT, Agriculture, E-commerce, and entertainment among others.
Fintech captured over 23 per cent of deals in 2023 but was affected by the launch of sector-specific funds, which channelled money in areas such as health and biotech, climate and cleantech as well as logistics.
