Private capital fundraising across Africa more than doubled in 2024, reaching $4.0 billion—the third-highest final close value on the continent over the past ten years.
This milestone reflects a strong resurgence in investor confidence and a growing shift towards local capital mobilisation, despite ongoing global economic headwinds.
According to the 2024 African Private Capital Activity Report by the African Private Capital Association (AVCA), infrastructure and private equity (PE) funds were the key drivers of this growth, each accounting for 30% of the total capital raised during the year.
DFIs Remain Major Backers, Local Investors Step Up
Development finance institutions (DFIs) remained the single largest contributor group, providing $1.4 billion—or 42% of the year’s total fundraising.
However, the more transformative trend was the sharp rise in domestic investor participation. Commitments from African pension funds, insurers, and corporates increased nearly fourfold, from $171 million in 2022 to $639 million in 2024.
“The rise of African institutional investors, growing infrastructure allocation, and the rebound in exits all point to a deepening and maturing private capital market in Africa,” said Abi Mustapha-Maduakor, CEO of AVCA.
She emphasised that private capital is now playing a critical role in building long-term value across sectors. This is being driven by increasingly strategic deal sizes and co-investment models that appeal to both global and local Limited Partners (LPs).
Dealmaking Resilient Despite Global Volatility
In 2024, Africa’s private capital ecosystem demonstrated remarkable resilience, closing 485 transactions—an 8% increase in deal volume from 2023.
Although overall deal value dipped slightly to $5.5 billion (a 7% year-on-year decline), this reflects a strategic pivot towards smaller, targeted investments as fund managers adapted to global economic uncertainty.
Private equity activity was a standout performer, with deal volume rising by 51% year-on-year—its highest level in more than a decade.
- Financial services led the way, accounting for 23% of total deal count and 33% of deal value.
- Consumer Staples followed closely, with deal volume rising 67% YoY and deal value doubling—underlining investor preference for resilient, essential sectors.
Regionally, Southern Africa recorded the most deals (129), followed by West Africa (105), East Africa (99), and North Africa (77), showcasing the broad geographical spread of deal activity.
Exit Activity Rebounds to Pre-Pandemic Levels
Another significant development in 2024 was a 47% surge in exit activity, with 63 exits recorded across the continent. This marks a return to pre-pandemic levels, as investors who had previously postponed exits now sought to take advantage of more favourable market conditions.
The rebound also reflects growing pressure on fund managers to return capital to LPs and prove liquidity after a period of economic turbulence and valuation uncertainty.
Unallocated Capital Remains High
Despite the upswing in activity, Africa-focused fund managers still hold a sizeable amount of unallocated capital. AVCA estimates that $10.3 billion in dry powder remained at the end of 2024, representing 36% of total capital raised from 2018 to 2024.
At the current deployment rate of $4.9 billion per year, fund managers have roughly two years’ worth of capital to invest.
The bulk of this reserve capital is held by:
- Private equity funds – 35%
- Infrastructure funds – 30%
- Private debt funds – 18%
- Venture capital funds – 12%