🇬🇭 Best of the rest
Ghana as a tech ecosystem is often considered to be “best of the rest” after the major hubs of Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt and Kenya. What’s often forgotten is how much smaller Ghana’s population is - 30 million in comparison to Kenya’s 52 million which is the second smallest country by population of the above 5.
With this is mind, Ghana is actually punching well above its weight as a tech ecosystem. From 2019 to 2020 the number of funded startups in Ghana rose by 25% to 15 in total. This year so far, a total of 8 Ghanaian startups have raised funding, putting it on a trajectory for continued year-on-year funding growth.
For decades the country has been an exemplar for democracy, free speech and the rule of law in West Africa. This unbridled commitment to libertarian values is slowly starting to win plaudits outside of the continent. In April this year, Jack Dorsey announced that Twitter would make Ghana its African headquarters.
As to why Ghana was chosen as the company’s African headquarters, Twitter explained that the country was a firm supporter of free speech, online freedom, and the Open Internet. Moreover, Ghana’s recent appointment to host The Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area allows Twitter to “establish a presence in the region”.
Due to Covid-19, Twitter is holding off on renting any office space in Accra, Ghana’s capital, and for now the entire team in Ghana is working from home. They’re currently hiring for 4 positions across Product, Sales and Customer Support.
Startup rankings
StartupBlink have recently published their Best Cities for Startups and Best Countries for Startups reports’ for 2021. Lagos is the best ranked African city, coming in 122nd position globally. Nairobi placed 136th and Cape Town in at 145th.
The top position went to San Francisco, with New York in 2nd. Surprisingly, Beijing took 3rd position, with Los Angeles and London in 4th and 5th positions respectively.
At a country level, South Africa ranks as the best country for startups in Africa, coming in at 48th position globally. Kenya ranked in 61st position, Nigeria in 63rd position, and Rwanda managed to secure 69th, one place ahead of Egypt.
StartupBlink is a world-renowned startup map and research centre providing public sector ecosystem developers, innovative organisations, and researchers with the knowledge and tools to map, brand, and grow their startup ecosystems.
In the news 🚀
🇳🇬 Nigerian social platform for gifting Showlove has closed a $300K pre-seed funding round as it prepares to launch first version of its product.
🇿🇦 South African hardware backer Savant has made 5 investments worth a total of $1.2 million over the last 12 months.
🇳🇬 Nigerian competitive e-sports startup Gamr has secured an undisclosed seed investment to scale its operations to Africa’s estimated 750 million gamers.