What African startups returned to investors in a decade

Ten years, $1.89 billion, and almost no liquidity.

Since its founding in 2016, Flutterwave has raised about $475 million, more than any of the 200-plus African startups founded that year. The 166 smallest companies in its cohort have raised roughly $210 million between them over the same decade.

This disparity in how one payments company from Lagos took in more than twice what two-thirds of its class managed in ten years combined is the story of Africa’s venture capital industry…