A $156 million asset-backed securitization for Sun King and a $300 million receivables financing facility for d.Light supercharged African startup funding in July, pushing the month’s total disclosed investment to USD 531.48 million. These two landmark deals for pay-as-you-go (PAYG) solar providers heavily skewed investment towards the energy sector and established Kenya as the top destination for capital. According to data tracked by Launch Base Africa, this haul brings the continent’s year-to-date total to approximately USD 1.98 billion, signaling a modest recovery from the capital drought that gripped the continent through much of 2023 and early 2024.
The Sun King transaction, backed by a consortium of local and international financial institutions including Kenya’s KCB Bank and Co-operative Bank, alongside development finance institutions like the UK’s BII and Norway’s Norfund, highlights a maturing market where later-stage companies are leveraging complex debt instruments to scale operations.
While these energy deals dominated the landscape, fintech remained a powerful magnet for venture capital. South Africa’s Paymenow, an earned wage access platform, secured the third-largest funding round of the month with a $22.4m investment from Standard Bank Group.
Kenya Leads in Capital, South Africa in Deal Volume
Geographically, the funding distribution was heavily concentrated. Thanks to the twin mega-deals for Sun King and d.Light, Kenya captured an overwhelming lion’s share of capital, securing 85.8% of the total funds. South Africa followed distantly with 6.8% of the total funding, driven by the Paymenow round and a notable $8.5m seed investment in Cerebrium, an AI serverless infrastructure startup backed by Google’s Gradient Ventures and Y Combinator. The remaining 7.4% of funding was dispersed between other markets on the continent.
However, looking at the number of deals tells a different story of ecosystem breadth. South Africa led the pack in announced deals, while Nigeria and Kenya tied for second with six deals each. This indicates sustained early-stage activity in these core markets.
Energy and Fintech Dominate, AI Shows Strength
Sector-wise, the energy sector was the undisputed leader, attracting a staggering 85.8% of the month’s total disclosed funding. This dominance was driven by two colossal debt deals: a $156 million asset-backed securitization for Sun King and a $300 million receivables financing facility for d.light. While energy commanded the landscape, fintech remained active, with South Africa’s Paymenow securing the month’s largest venture round.
Fintech, with its various sub-sectors, was the next most active category. In addition to the large rounds for Paymenow and Lime, Nigeria’s Bfree raised a $3m debt investment for its ethical debt recovery platform, and Egypt’s Flend closed a $3m seed round for SME lending.
Artificial intelligence also emerged as a strong vertical, with South Africa’s Cerebrium raising US$8.5 million in early July.
African Investors Lead in Deal Participation
An analysis of investor origins shows that African-based investment funds and angels were the most active participants in July, involved in nearly 44% of all deals. This suggests a robust and growing local capital base that is crucial for nurturing early-stage ventures.
North American investors were the second most active group, participating in 28% of the month’s deals, followed by European investors at 16%. This combination of local and international capital continues to define the continent’s funding ecosystem, with local investors often leading pre-seed and seed rounds while international VCs frequently join at Series A and beyond.
Download July data HERE.
Editor’s Note:
Last updated: August 22, 2025: This article has been further updated to clarify that d.Light raised $300M in receivables financing. In the previous version, a press release from d.Light had been deleted, leading to uncertainty and speculation about the exact amount raised. This ambiguity is not in line with our editorial policy of transparency. Launch Base Africa reached out to the teams at Mirova, d.Light, and the arranger, African Frontier Capital. The situation has now been clarified, confirming the $300M receivables financing. More details can be found here.
An earlier amendment was made in July 2025 to reflect that d.Light had raised $10M in its latest funding round, with key lenders including FMO, OGEF, Nithio, Responsability, the Solar Energy Transformation (SET) Fund, Trade & Development Bank, DFC, EIB, and Acumen.
New Figures:
USD 531.48 million was raised in July 2025. The total annual funding as of July 2025 stands at USD 1.98 billion.
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