South Africa
Africa · Pop. 64M · #42 startup ecosystem by EV
Adjacent ecosystems by EV
Startup hubs
Inside South Africa: top 2 startup hubs
Sub-national ecosystems ranked by combined enterprise value of all tracked startups headquartered there.
Startup funnel
South Africa's power-law funnel
From every VC-backed startup down to the biggest scale-ups. Conversion rates show what fraction of one tier graduate into the next. Capital figures (where shown) are total VC deployed at that stage.
Enterprise value · 2015–2025
South Africa grew 10.2× since 2015
Combined enterprise value of every tracked startup headquartered in South Africa that's still operating today, totalled by founding-year cohort.
Vs. similarly-sized ecosystems
How South Africa stacks up
Peers chosen from the same Africa cluster within ±70% of South Africa's combined EV. The scatter plots growth × current size for the wider continent — outliers in the upper-right are ecosystems compounding fastest.
Top overview
Africa ecosystems — combined view
Top ecosystems in Africa ranked by combined EV. South Africa's row is highlighted.
| # | Ecosystem | Combined EV | 5-yr EV growth | Unicorns | VC invested | Tracked startups |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Africa | $18.8B | 8.2× | 2 | $406.5M | 969 |
| 2 | Nigeria | $18.2B | 12.5× | 6 | $227.5M | 919 |
| 3 | Egypt | $12.3B | 9.6× | 4 | $416.9M | 834 |
| 4 | Kenya | $8.9B | 10.2× | 0 | $269.6M | 520 |
| 5 | Seychelles | $3.1B | — | 1 | $15.8M | 46 |
| 6 | Senegal | $2B | 98.9× | 1 | $13.5M | 52 |
| 7 | Mauritius | $1.9B | 29.4× | 0 | $19.5M | 42 |
| 8 | Ghana | $1.6B | 5.3× | 0 | $146.9M | 193 |
| 9 | Tunisia | $1.1B | 37.2× | 0 | $5.1M | 110 |
| 10 | Rwanda | $705M | 5.8× | 0 | $13.2M | 57 |
| 11 | Morocco | $653.2M | 8.4× | 0 | $20.2M | 146 |
| 12 | Benin | $601M | — | 0 | $100.1M | 20 |
Patent intelligence
South Africa startup IP portfolio: 360 patent families
Granted patent families assigned to startups headquartered in South Africa. 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.
Premium analytics
What we don't show on this page (yet)
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