For most of the last decade, an African fintech pitch could lean on one fact: fintech got the most money. That is no longer true. In the first nine months of 2026, logistics and transport raised $780 million, or 36% of all startup funding, and fintech $760 million, or 35%, according to Africa: The Big Deal. Two deals, Spiro's $345 million and Moove's $250 million, did most of the work for logistics.
Fintech is not finished. It still backed the most companies, with 80 raising at least $100,000 this year. What has changed is how investors decide. In the first quarter, private capital deal value in Africa rose 20% to $1.7 billion while the number of deals fell 25%, and fintech venture deals fell 33%, according to the African Private Capital Association, as reported by Africa Fintech Network. Fewer cheques, each one harder to win.
What investors now ask
"The conversation has definitely matured," Ryan Kirkley, co-founder of Global Settlement Network, told ITWeb Africa. Investors want to see whether customers actually use the product, pay for it, and bring in enough revenue to cover what it costs to acquire and serve them, he said, and they now look harder at currencies, regulation and market structure. Jasiel Martin-Odoom of Accion Ventures pointed to sustainable economics and resilient business models.
Related · StartupsMoniepoint Restructures Engineering and Product TeamsMoniepoint is moving engineering and product into small platform groups. Some roles will go, new ones such as platform architects will be created.The playbook
- Show usage, not sign-ups. Monthly active and paying customers, and how many come back, beat a downloads chart.
- Know what a customer costs and what one earns. Have acquisition and servicing cost per customer next to revenue per customer, by month of joining.
- If you lend, show the book. Repayment rates, defaults and how you fund the loans are now the first questions, not the last.
- Have your licence story ready. Which licences you hold, which you need, and what happens if a regulator changes the rules.
- Plan for the naira, cedi or shilling to fall. Show what a 30% devaluation does to your costs and revenue.
- Solve a costly problem that exists in more than one market. A problem customers already pay to fix travels better than a new habit you have to teach.
The last point is the argument LEAF Africa makes in an analysis this week: the money did not disappear, it moved to the problems that make it expensive to live and do business in Africa, from power to transport to working capital. Fintech that sits inside those problems, such as credit for a distributor or payments for a logistics network, is answering the question investors are now asking.
