Startups across Nigeria’s South-South and South-East regions raised $10.23 million in disclosed funding between 2023 and 2025, marking a 29.6% increase from the $7.89 million recorded in the previous period. This data comes from the 2025 South-South & South-East Startup Ecosystem & State of Digital Jobs Report, published by #StartupSouth, which tracked startup activity, funding flows, digital jobs, and talent distribution across 11 states over the two-year span.
The ecosystem’s startup count surged by 54.3% to 304 companies during the same period. The report also mapped 98 Enterprise Support Organisations, 234 digital talents, and 29 employers operating across the region. Despite this headline growth, the funding landscape remains heavily skewed: only six startups account for 86.6% of all disclosed capital raised, while the median raise across the broader ecosystem sits at just $500. This indicates that most founders are technically funded but remain severely undercapitalized in practice.
For the first time in the report’s dataset, the South-East overtook the South-South in overall startup share. Port Harcourt retains its position as the region’s largest hub by company count, while Enugu has emerged as the leader in disclosed capital raised. Abia recorded the strongest startup share growth across the entire South-South and South-East, climbing 4.1 percentage points between 2023 and 2025, driven by improving governance sentiment, infrastructure developments, and renewed commercial momentum in Aba. Delta also emerged as a rising frontier ecosystem alongside Abia.
Uche Aniche, Convener of #StartupSouth, stated that the data confirms frontier innovation ecosystems in Southern Nigeria are no longer theoretical, but warned that structural gaps holding them back remain largely unaddressed. The report positions Southern Nigeria as one of Africa’s emerging frontier innovation corridors, arguing that the next wave of continental startup growth is more likely to come from distributed ecosystems outside traditional megacity hubs like Lagos, Nairobi, Cape Town, and Cairo.
In related developments, Nigeria Launches T+1 settlement system to accelerate capital market efficiency, while Nairametrics Announces Nominees for its annual business awards. Meanwhile, Ajosepo: Gathering Debuts as a new cultural event, Ghana Issues Travel advisory updates for regional travelers, and Anthropic Files Ipo documents as the AI firm eyes public listing. These events underscore the broader economic and innovation momentum across West Africa.
Nigeria’s startup ecosystem recorded a slight rebound in April 2026, with disclosed investments totaling approximately $4 million across six major deals tracked during the period. This represents a sharp slowdown compared to both the previous month and the same period the year before. Fintech startups attracted the largest share of capital during the month, with Bfree accounting for a significant portion of the disclosed funding.
