Venture capital for African healthcare startups collapsed to a six-year low in 2024, shrinking the funding pipeline that health founders depend on to survive and scale.
The sector pulled in just $43 million across 27 deals for the entire year, exposing how far investor appetite has fallen.
One Nigerian investor refused to follow the crowd out the door. Dr. Ola Brown, founder and general partner of HealthCap Africa, continued deploying capital into the very space most venture investors abandoned throughout the downturn.
Africa’s healthcare VC funding sank 78% to a six-year low in 2024
Healthcare deal volume declined 46% year over year while total capital raised fell 78% from 2023 levels, the African Private Capital Association (AVCA) confirmed in its 2024 Venture Capital in Africa report.
The $43 million total represented just 22% of the sector’s average annual allocation between 2021 and 2023, the report stated.
Across all sectors, Africa’s private capital market recorded 485 deals worth $5.5 billion in 2024, BusinessDay reported. Venture capital deal volume fell 7%, and total value dropped 10%, the report noted, but healthcare contracted far more sharply than the wider venture market.
More on African startups and funding:
- Nigeria’s health insurance costs are rising past inflation
- 5 Nigerian founders beat 1,495 others to Dutch funding
- Airtel Money shows its cards ahead of London listing
Fintech dominated at 30% of total deal volume and 59% of all capital deployed in 2024, the association confirmed. That concentration highlights a pattern where investors chase faster-scaling digital financial services and avoid healthcare’s longer timelines and tighter margins.
The gap between fintech and healthcare funding reflects a risk-reward calculation that has pushed most generalist venture funds away from health deals, leaving specialist investors to fill a widening gap at the early stage.
HealthCap’s Ola Brown stays active while other health investors retreat
Brown’s HealthCap Africa writes early-stage equity checks into healthcare and fintech companies across the continent, targeting startups that need capital to build products and grow revenues before becoming attractive to institutional investors.
HealthCap’s portfolio companies operate across 10 African countries, supporting roughly 1,000 direct jobs and serving approximately 2 million patients, BusinessDay reported.
Brown, a British-Nigerian medical doctor, previously founded Flying Doctors Nigeria, the first indigenous air ambulance service in West Africa.
“Before Africa can have more large, institutionally investable healthcare companies, smaller companies need capital to grow into them.” — Dr. Ola Brown, founder and general partner, HealthCap Africa
That thesis positions HealthCap at the riskiest end of the funding pipeline, filling a gap that widened through 2024. The AVCA report pointed to structural barriers in scaling healthcare solutions, including regulatory variation, poor infrastructure, and patients’ limited ability to pay.
Nigeria’s child mortality figures underscore the healthcare funding gap
Nigeria’s under-five mortality rate stood at 115.6 deaths per 1,000 live births during 2024, barely improved from 116.8 the year before, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) data showed.
The funding squeeze arrives while the country’s healthcare needs remain among the most severe globally.
Nigeria accounts for roughly 14% of Africa’s population but has received only about 8% of the $4.2 billion invested in African healthcare since 2016, Semafor reported.
Healthcare spending sits at 3.7% of the 2026 federal budget, the lowest share since 2020, even as health insurance premiums outpace general inflation and household medical costs continue rising.
Other parts of Nigeria’s startup ecosystem continue attracting capital and political attention, from ride-hailing platforms to digital payments, which underscores how isolated the healthcare funding drought has become within the broader investment landscape.
Brown earns sole Nigerian spot on AWIEF 2026 Impact for Good shortlist
Brown’s investment record earned her a nomination for the 2026 Africa Women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum (AWIEF) Impact for Good Award.
She is the only Nigerian among three finalists, with the winner to be announced at the AWIEF Awards Gala in Cape Town on November 11, 2026.
Dr. Mories Atoki, chief executive officer of the African Business Coalition for Health (ABCHealth), echoed the need for more investors like Brown at a HealthCap roundtable in Lagos during September 2026.
Atoki rejected the premise that any healthcare project in Africa is unbankable, AllAfrica reported.
The AVCA’s 2024 report showed that despite the healthcare contraction, the continent’s venture ecosystem retained broad investor participation across 485 deals in 2024, with large continental deals in telecommunications infrastructure demonstrating that institutional capital still flows into African assets even as healthcare struggles to attract a comparable share.
Key figures
- African healthcare startups raised $43 million across 27 VC deals in 2024, reflecting a 78% funding drop and a 46% decline in deal count, AVCA reported.
- Fintech captured 30% of all deals and 59% of total capital invested across the continent in 2024, AVCA confirmed.
- Africa’s broader private capital market recorded 485 deals worth $5.5 billion for the full year, BusinessDay reported, citing AVCA data.
- Nigerian startups raised over $520 million in equity funding during 2024, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) reported, via Daily Trust.
