From Lagos to Kigali, Nairobi to Cape Town, builders have been climbing panel after panel to talk about AI in Africa. It is clear that they have some ideas and hypotheses on how AI can take us to a world we could not have even dreamt of. But when we look at VC funding in the region, a different kind of reality sets in.
On a surface level, it would seem like the continent has snubbed AI. Only 6 per cent of venture capital funding has gone to AI companies from the total $3.6 billion raised in 2025. In a world where people are tripping over each other to invest in the next buzzy AI startups of the future, why does this seem to be the case on the continent?
In a stunning analysis this week, we dived deeper into the data to offer the real truth about AI in Africa. What we discovered might come as a surprise, as it did to me. African founders are deep at work in AI. It is the method of funding collation that fails to understand the peculiarities of the region. If any piece will change your mind about how Africans build, let it be this essay below.
— Dennis, Managing Editor
Also, on building this week, Techloy spoke with Marcos Valera, a go-to-market strategist at ElevenLabs, the London-based AI research startup that builders at Meta, Nvidia and The Walt Disney Company have become fans of. He opens up on his experience as a founder in a hacker house and why he is now hosting them across the world.
