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Africa’s Exploding Tech Startup Ecosystem

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Africa's Exploding Tech Startup Ecosystem

Africa’s Exploding Tech Startup Ecosystem

In terms of economic potential and growth, Africa has never been more important on the world stage.

Africa is home to the fastest growing cities, and more than half of the world’s population growth will take place on the continent over the coming decades. By 2050, cities like Lagos and Kinshasa will be global megacities, each holding well over 30 million inhabitants.

Africa is also at the start of a technological renaissance. It was recently reported by WeAreSocial that 7 of 10 of the world’s fastest growing internet populations are in Africa – the beginning of a trend that will likely re-shape entire economies as new companies leapfrog established technology, ideas, and infrastructure.

That said, much of that opportunity lies in the future. As of today, internet penetration is just 29% throughout Africa, meaning that the majority of growth and network effects are still to come.

Africa Internet Penetration

A New Startup Ecosystem Emerges

Today’s infographic from GSMA shows the 300+ hubs that have emerged in the African tech startup ecosystem. Many of these plan to take advantage of the aforementioned growth potential, including the 360 million smartphone owners expected on the continent by 2025.

Investors are recognizing the potential as well. Last year, it was estimated that African startups raised a record-breaking total of $366.8 million in investment.

Here’s that distribution sorted by country:

African startup investment by country

In what sectors did most of the action happen? According to a separate report by Disrupt Africa, the fintech sector received the most funding in 2016, but the agri-tech sector saw the biggest percentage growth as compared to the previous year.

Other sectors that got substantial amounts of attention include solar, health, e-commerce, entertainment, and e-learning.

Unique Opportunities

Every startup ecosystem is different, and hubs in Africa are no exception.

In particular, the continent has a unique wrinkle that also presents a huge opportunity: according to the African Development Bank, about 55% of sub-Saharan Africa’s economic activity is informal.

The [informal economy] is a massive commercial space without such services as business enterprise software, small business banking, affordable third-party logistics or internet access. Expect VC-backed startups to attempt scalable applications for nearly every corner of Africa’s informal economy.

– Jake Bright, World Economic Forum

Last year, Africa Internet Group became the first unicorn on the continent after receiving investments from Goldman Sachs, Rocket Internet, AXA Group, Orange, and others.

It’s also certain to be just one of many born on the African Savannah.

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Technology

Ranked: Who Made the Most U.S. Unicorn Acquisitions Since 1997?

Roughly 30% of unicorns making an exit get acquired. But which companies have made the most U.S. unicorn acquisitions in the last 25 years?

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A bubble chart visualizing the companies that made the most unicorn acquisitions between 1997 and 2021.

Who Made the Most U.S. Unicorn Acquisitions Since 1997?

The elusive unicorn is no longer a myth in the U.S. startup world, with over a thousand private startups reaching a $1 billion valuation in the last 25 years.

While some of these startups eventually go public and go on to become household names, it’s also common for founders to exit through mergers and acquisitions (M&A), by selling their startup to another organization. In fact, over half of the 1,110 unicorns in the U.S. have made some sort of an exit—either through an IPO, a direct listing, a SPAC or an acquisition—since 1997.

Ilya Strebulaev, professor of finance and private equity at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, brings us this visualization featuring the companies that acquired the most unicorns over the last 25 years.

Strebulaev’s database lists 137 private and public companies along with PE firms who’ve acquired at least one unicorn since 1997, totaling 177 acquisitions.

The Biggest U.S. Unicorn Acquirers

In total, 27 companies have acquired two or more unicorns, accounting for nearly 38% of all acquisitions. 110 companies have acquired just one unicorn.

Company/ PE GroupAcquired
Meta5
Cisco4
Alphabet4
Amazon3
Nortel Networks3
Bristol-Myers Squibb3
Johnson & Johnson3
Merck & Co.3
AT&T3
Recruit Holdings2
IBM2
Microsoft2
Thoma Bravo2
Headspace Health2
Allergan2
Qualcomm2
Rakuten2
Adobe Systems2
Eli Lilly2
Vista Equity2
Dell2
Uber2
Oracle2
Nestle2
Lucent Technologies2
Broadcom Corporation2
GlaxoSmithKline2
BlackBerry2
Searchlight Capital Partners1
Singtel1
Vmware1
Internet Capital Group1
Hellman & Friedman1
AppLovin1
Ciena Corporation1
Redback Networks1
Aether Systems1
Fresenius Medical Care1
Electronic Arts1
Genentech1
Inktomi1
VistaJet1
Ariba1
Keurig Dr Pepper1
Fullscreen1
Sycamore Networks1
Novartis1
TP ICAP1
eBay1
DoveBid1
McKesson1
IG Group1
Empower Retirement1
Dentsply Sirona1
Novo Nordisk1
Centocor1
Bausch Health1
Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma1
Medtronic1
Mubadala Investment Company1
Cint Group1
Qualtrics1
Rocket Companies1
Saudi Arabia's PIF1
Prosus1
Cigna1
One Medical1
Exact Sciences1
Teladoc Health1
Ericsson1
SoFi1
PayPal Holdings1
Bayer1
Monsanto1
AMD1
Aurora1
Marvell International1
Bill.com1
ADC1
Dealertrack1
Cox Enterprises1
L'Oreal1
AstraZeneca1
Workday1
Iron Mountain1
Splunk1
Stonepeak1
American Express1
OfferUp1
VMware1
Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan1
Groupon1
Allstate Corporation1
LinkedIn1
SAP1
Mindbody1
Mallinckrodt1
Walmart1
GMT Communications1
Brightstar Capital1
Enterprise Holdings1
Healtheon Corporation1
Apple1
PetSmart1
Epiphany1
Rice Energy1
Unilever1
SBA Communications1
Bridgepoint Advisers1
Aurea1
Vector Capital1
FireEye1
Littlejohn & Co1
Alexion1
SoftBank Investment Advisers1
Francisco Partners1
Betfair Group1
Shift Technologies1
Hudson's Bay1
Illumina1
Hewlett Packard Enterprise1
AbbVie1
Salesforce1
Hanergy1
Teleflex1
Twilio1
Okta1
Celgene1
NantCell1
VMware & EMC Corp1
Intuit1
Yahoo!1
Netmarble Games1
F5 Networks1
Roche1
Centerbridge Partners1
Total177

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, leads the pack with the most unicorn acquisitions in the U.S., purchasing five unicorns since its founding in 2008, including: Kustomer, WhatsApp, Instagram, CTRL-Labs, and Oculus VR.

Notably, WhatsApp—which closed at a purchase price of $19 billion—was Meta’s most expensive acquisition yet, over nine times their next most expensive purchase, Oculus VR.

Meanwhile, Alphabet (now the parent company of Google) and Cisco are tied in second place with four U.S. unicorn acquisitions each.

  • Alphabet: YouTube, Actifio, Nest Labs, Looker Data Sciences
  • Cisco: Cerent, Duo Security, AppDynamics, Jasper

Unlike its Big Tech peers, Apple has only made the one U.S. unicorn acquisition: navigation company HopStop that helped bring public transit features to Apple Maps.

Meanwhile, 56% of acquirers received venture capital funding of their own when they were private companies. This includes pack leaders like Meta, Cisco, Alphabet, and Amazon.

Are Unicorn Acquisitions Slowing Down?

Unicorn acquisitions are driven by two factors: the rate at which new unicorns are minted, and the climate for M&A transactions more broadly.

To begin with, the minting of new unicorns is largely influenced by the venture funding environment. Funding opportunities increase when interest rates go down, which makes riskier, venture-scale ideas more enticing. During the last decade of persistently low interest rates up until 2022, unicorns flourished more than ever.

Meanwhile, as tech companies like Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta began seeing outsized profits in the 2010s, venture investors and their LPs looked to get in on the ground floor of tech startups that could emulate their success, often paying premium valuations for the chance. Simultaneously, big tech looked to acquire unicorns themselves, both to augment their business lines and to squash potential competitors.

However, the era of “easy money” may have come to an end, and privately-held startups have seen valuations drop in recent years. This means that for the next little while—at least until monetary policy stops tightening—unicorns could become a rarer sight.

Unicorn acquisitions may also see a similar fate. Persistent inflation and the government anti-trust push are just some of the other factors that have led to VC-backed startup acquisitions falling to their lowest quarterly levels in a decade. The more expensive the valuation, the harder to find a buyer, which means that some unicorns may even lose their $1 billion tag even when they do get acquired.

How does a startup become a unicorn? Check out How Startups Can Improve Their Odds of Becoming a Unicorn which provides a blueprint to navigate this enormous task.
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