Feature
Who funds Nigeria? A map of the ladder, rung by rung
Every Nigerian founder asks who to pitch first. Here are the investors behind Nigerian startups since 2023, and the stages they actually backed.
By AR Abdi · 2026-10-27
The Who Funds Africa series, no. 1. By AR Abdi.
First published on LinkedIn on 27 October 2026. Figures as of 26 October 2026.
Every Nigerian founder asks the same question: who do I pitch first? So I mapped it. Since January 2023, 297 Nigerian startups have raised 418 rounds on Propel, and the investors named on them tell a clear story about where money starts and where it stops.
The first rung is crowded. Techstars is on more Nigerian cap tables than anyone, 41 companies, every one of them at pre-seed or seed. Y Combinator is on 12, 54 Collective on 13, Launch Africa on 12. Next to them sit the grant makers: GIZ has backed 18 Nigerian startups, the Mastercard Foundation 12, Co-Creation Hub 12, and Google for Startups' Black Founders Fund 11. About one round in five since 2023 was a grant. For many founders, the first money is not equity at all.
Then the ladder thins. Labelled pre-seed and seed rounds number 78. Series A, 10. Series B, 9. Series C, 3 in four years, two of them backed by names from outside the country: Mubadala on Moove and Development Partners International on Moniepoint.
The climb is rarely local end to end. Ventures Platform appears from pre-seed to Series A, on 14 startups. Beyond that, the cheques come from Nairobi, Cape Town, London, Oslo and Abu Dhabi: Novastar, Norrsken22, British International Investment, Norfund and Mubadala.
Fintech still dominates. It takes 129 of the 418 rounds, close to a third, with education, energy, logistics and health each on about one in ten.
The biggest cheques show where the top of the ladder now sits: Moove's $250 million Series C in 2026, Moniepoint's $110 million Series C in 2024, and Moove's $100 million Series B the same year. In all, Nigerian startups disclosed about $1.55 billion across these rounds; 23 rounds have no amount.
What the map cannot tell us. 176 rounds carry no stage label, so the ladder understates some investors. Rounds from 2026 are still being added. And a first round on Propel is not always a company's first money.
Founders in Nigeria: which rung is hardest to reach right now?
Every investor named here has a page on Propel with the rounds behind it. Kenya is next in the series.
Propel Africa, 26 October 2026. Nigerian startups with a round since 1 January 2023; acquisitions, IPOs and secondaries excluded.