Who will win Afcon 2023?

Good morning! 

We look forward to an exciting month of international football with the African Cup of Nations (Afcon) kicking off this Saturday. Who will win the tournament? Read on to find predictions from Opta.

And ere are our other top stories from last week:

• NGX investors gain $2bn

• Nigeria’s naira stablecoin

• Venture debt is on the rise

• The best stocks on BRVM

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Thank You for 2023!

Before going into the stories for this week, we want to say a big THANK YOU for being an active member of the Daba community and doing 2023 with us. 

The entire team wishes you a fantastic year ahead! We look forward to walking 2024 with you.

Sustained rally

Investors gain over $2bn as Nigerian stocks surge

The Nigerian Exchange wrapped up the initial week of 2024 on a positive note, driven by a consistent surge in investor confidence towards listed companies, fueling optimism for a potentially bullish market in 2024.

Bitcoin closed the week positive. On Wednesday, the United States SEC officially approved the trading of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), as expected—but the price of Bitcoin itself has been choppy since.

Other equities in Africa were largely mixed. Gold dipped after a bullish end to last year while oil prices inched higher as Middle East tensions heated up.

Naira stablecoin

Nigerian banks, fintechs to launch stablecoin in February

The Africa Stablecoin Consortium (ASC), comprised of Nigerian financial institutions, fintechs, and blockchain experts, is gearing up to launch a Naira stablecoin (cNGN) on February 27, 2024. 

The consortium made this announcement in a statement, noting that the launch of cNGN is facilitated by the Regulatory Sandbox recently introduced by the Central Bank. 

cNGN stablecoin is expected to bring about a transformation in financial transactions, offering a secure and compliant means for individuals to transact and engage with their money.

VC slowdown

Startup funding in Africa dipped to $2.9bn as debt grows

In 2023, African startups secured a total funding of $2.9bn, marking the lowest amount since 2020's $2.1 billion—a 39% decrease from the around $4.6bn total in 2022, according to data from The Big Deal.

Amid the slump, many startups increasingly turned to debt as a means to finance their growth. The amount of debt raised reached $1.1bn, reflecting a significant YoY growth of +47%.

It's important to note that this decline in venture funding is not unique to Africa; it aligns with a global trend.

Headline roundup

A summary of the major business, tech, and finance headlines of the past week.

Macro & Markets

• Nigeria’s FX reserves are down to 6-year low

• Egypt stocks see biggest annual return since 2016

• Morocco’s renewable energy output peaks at 18%

VC Funding & Startups

• Egypt edtech iSchool gets $4.5m for MENA drive

• Cameroonian fintech Koree closes $200k pre-seed

• Embattled Swvl rehires employees after first profit

Other Deals & Expansion

• West African Resources gets $100m for Burkina gold

• Center3 acquires CMC Networks to expand in Africa

Funds & Accelerators

• EIB backs Egypt’s major green project with $182m

Startup Opportunities

Discover funding and accelerator opportunities to boost your startup's growth.

• GSMA Innovation Fund (Feb 12)

Our insight for the week

Get more context into events shaping Africa’s economic landscape.

2023 Recap: The best-performing stocks on BRVM — The Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières is the regional stock exchange of the member states of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU): Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo. 

The exchange is located in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire but maintains market offices in each of the affiliated countries.

In an impressive year for the stock market, up to eight of the stocks posted double-digit share price gains in 2023 while the market capitalization surged past the XOF 8 trillion mark (around $13bn) for the first time in history in September.

As part of our 2023 recap series, we provide an overview of the best-performing stocks on the regional bourse—and the companies behind them—ranked by share price appreciation. 

Tap the button below to read the full article on our website.

Bonus: Afcon’s likely winners as predicted by Opta, a British sports analytics company that provides data for more than 30 sports in over 70 countries.

That’s it for this week. Next Frontier is sent once weekly. Think your friend or colleague should know about us? Forward this newsletter to them. They can also sign up here.

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Catch you next week!