Nigeria
Africa · Pop. 232.7M · #45 startup ecosystem by EV
1 Overview
* C→Unicorn and Unicorn→Decacorn rates are derived from current counts (no founding-cohort data); the four mid-funnel rates use Dealroom's cohort tracking.
2 Largest rounds
Largest funding rounds in Nigeria
A live treemap of $15M+ rounds from the Dealroom API. Each cell is one round into a company headquartered in Nigeria, grouped by Dealroom sector.
Largest rounds in Nigeria - 2024–2026
3 Startup hubs
Inside Nigeria: 1 startup hub, 169 universities
Hubs are sized by combined enterprise value; universities by the startup founders they produced. Hover any point for its numbers; the lists rank hubs by EV and universities by founders.
4 VC investment
How much venture capital flows into Nigeria
VC investment into Nigeria-headquartered, VC-backed companies, broken down by round size, company location, sector and funding stage.
5 Founder origins
Where Nigeria's unicorn founders build
21 founders born in Nigeria are behind 13 unicorns; 69% of those were built in the US. Origins are resolved from biography and education history, not current address. Compare with the other origin countries in Africa, ranked by founders or per 1M inhabitants.
6 Location comparison
How Nigeria stacks up
Compare Nigeria with similarly sized ecosystems in Africa — switch between combined EV, 5-year EV growth, and a growth × size view. Expand the table for the full ranking.
Combined enterprise value of each ecosystem.
Top ecosystems in Africa ranked by combined EV. Nigeria's row is highlighted (#2).
| # | Ecosystem | Combined EV | EV growth | Unicorns | VC invested | Tracked startups |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Africa | $18.9B | 8.2× | 2 | $370.2M | 993 |
| 2 | Nigeria | $17.3B | 11.9× | 5 | $137.8M | 957 |
| 3 | Egypt | $12.4B | 9.8× | 4 | $420M | 855 |
| 4 | Kenya | $9B | 10.2× | 1 | $439.4M | 538 |
| 5 | Seychelles | $2.7B | — | 1 | $15.8M | 45 |
| 6 | Senegal | $2B | 98.9× | 1 | $13.5M | 52 |
| 7 | Mauritius | $1.9B | 29.4× | 0 | $19.5M | 43 |
| 8 | Ghana | $1.4B | 4.6× | 0 | $146.9M | 196 |
| 9 | Morocco | $1.2B | 16.0× | 0 | $20.2M | 149 |
| 10 | Tunisia | $1.1B | 37.2× | 0 | $5.2M | 112 |
| 11 | Rwanda | $705.6M | 5.8× | 0 | $13.2M | 59 |
| 12 | Uganda | $629.9M | 28.7× | 0 | $12.1M | 129 |
7 Patent intelligence
Nigeria startup IP portfolio: 25 patent families
Granted patent families assigned to startups headquartered in Nigeria. Aggregated across the country's hub-level filings — Bay Area, Boston, etc. roll up under the United States row, the same way Tokyo and Osaka roll up under Japan.
More data
Explore Dealroom data →Get the full Nigeria ecosystem on Dealroom
Live company-by-company deal flow, full cap tables, founder pedigrees, hiring signals and revenue trajectories.