Mary Beth Leonard, the United States Ambassador to Nigeria, said African startups raised about $2.9 billion in total, of which Nigerian based companies raised $1.7 billion, she made the revelation at the Nigeria Tech Summit held recently in Abuja.
She said, “Africa-based tech startups have raised more than $2.9 billion. Nigerian startups, which are creating new products, services, and platforms, raised $1.7 billion of this total or about 60% of it. Africa boasts a total of seven tech ‘unicorns’, or companies valued at over $1 billion.
“I find it very exciting to note that three of these companies — OPay, Flutterwave, and Interswitch – are born and bred of Nigerian talent. We firmly believe that Nigeria, with the proper support, has enormous potential to do even more.”
According to Vanguard news report, Leonard, however, reiterated the US’ commitment to offering support to Nigeria’s burgeoning technology and innovation space.
She expressed the hope that an enabling environment would help create more global businesses birthed in Nigeria adding that the COVID-19 pandemic did not hinder the support the US government offered.
“The U.S. Mission will continue to do its part to support Nigeria’s burgeoning tech scene and encourage the creation of enabling environment necessary to foster a sector that will, in turn, launch still more global businesses and contribute to a more prosperous future for all its citizens.
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