In Africa’s startup ecosystem, fintechs raise hundreds of millions to “bank the unbanked.” Health-techs are celebrated for closing gaps in access. Logistics startups attract capital to bridge supply chains. But when it comes to media, those building platforms to tell Africa’s stories authentically, the funding taps run dry.
It’s as if our stories don’t matter.
The Invisible Sector in Africa’s Startup Boom
Let’s look at the numbers. African startups collectively raised over $6.5 billion in 2022. Of that, fintech alone accounted for nearly 40%. Health, logistics, and clean energy followed. Media? Barely a footnote. Less than 1% of that funding went into digital media ventures.
Meanwhile, in the United States, digital-first media companies like BuzzFeed, Vox Media, and Vice have raised hundreds of millions from investors. In Asia, platforms like The Ken and The Morning Context attract steady venture backing because investors recognise that information and storytelling are essential infrastructure.
In Africa, we celebrate fintech unicorns but ignore the fact that we are building those unicorns in a vacuum of authentic storytelling. Who tells their stories? Who records their impact? Who questions their failures? If African media startups continue to be underfunded, our ecosystem becomes a house built on sand, visible but fragile, impressive but without roots.
Why Are Investors Blind to Media?
There are at least three reasons:
- The Profitability Myth: Many investors assume media is “not profitable enough.” They think of shrinking legacy newspapers or failing Western newsrooms. But Africa is not the West. We have the fastest-growing internet population in the world. With 600 million Africans expected online by 2030, the demand for local, digital-first storytelling is only going up. The problem is not demand, it is investment.
- The Tangibility Bias: Investors like what they can measure: transactions processed, tons of cargo moved, patients treated. Media is harder to quantify. But its impact is no less tangible. Media shapes democracy, culture, and markets. Without media, investors themselves would have no visibility into the ecosystems they claim to back.
- The Dependence on Western Validation: Too often, African investors wait for Western capital to “validate” a sector before they join in. That’s why we see co-investments in fintech, health, and climate once Silicon Valley shows interest. But Western investors rarely prioritise African media because they already dominate global platforms (CNN, BBC, NYT). Waiting for them to bless African media is a recipe for silence.
Why Media Matters More Than Ever
The media is not just entertainment. It is the infrastructure of identity. It is how a people see themselves, how they are seen by the world, and how they negotiate their future.
When Nollywood broke through global screens, it wasn’t just about film. It was about Africa saying, “This is who we are.” When Afrobeats conquered charts worldwide, it wasn’t just music. It was storytelling in rhythm and melody. The same is true for digital media. It is the frontline of how Africa is understood.
Yet, our platforms are underpowered.
- Local journalists struggle to fund in-depth investigations.
- Digital publishers can’t scale beyond small teams.
- Talented storytellers migrate to foreign outlets that pay better.
- Global narratives about Africa remain dominated by outsiders who frame us as a continent of crisis, not creativity.
The result? We risk being a continent that builds startups but cannot build its own story.
Proof of Potential: Media Startups Already Paving the Way
The irony is that we already have proof of concept. Across Africa, media startups have shown grit, resilience, and market fit, with little to no institutional backing.
- Stears (Nigeria): This intelligence and media startup raised $3.3 million in seed funding in 2022, one of the rare African media deals because investors saw its ability to deliver trusted economic data and insights. But Stears is the exception, not the norm.
- Big Cabal Media (Nigeria): Publisher of TechCabal and Zikoko, Big Cabal has built a loyal readership across tech and youth culture. With minimal funding, they’ve become a cultural force. Imagine what they could be with a $20 million runway.
- Pulse Africa: Operating in multiple African countries, Pulse reaches millions with lifestyle, entertainment, and business stories. Despite its reach, it has had to scale cautiously, growing slower than its global potential suggests.
- The Continent: A pan-African weekly newspaper distributed via WhatsApp. It has won awards for its innovative format, yet survives mostly on grants, not sustainable investment.
- African Arguments and Mail & Guardian Africa: Both platforms provide in-depth reporting on African politics and society, but constantly battle funding shortages that limit their ability to grow.
These platforms prove demand exists. What they lack is the capital to scale.
Media Is Not Charity, It’s A Market
Funding media is not philanthropy. It is a smart investment. Africa’s 1.4 billion people represent one of the largest untapped media markets in the world. Social media usage is surging, podcasting is booming, and video-on-demand is expanding across the continent.
Platforms like Pulse, TechCabal, BellaNaija, and Africa Confidential have proven that demand exists. They command millions of monthly readers and viewers, built with minimal funding.
Imagine what they could achieve if investors gave them the same capital and runway fintechs enjoy. Imagine a $50 million fund dedicated to scaling African media startups. We could see pan-African platforms capable of standing toe-to-toe with Al Jazeera or Netflix, but rooted in our realities.
The Risk of Silence
When the media is underfunded, three dangerous things happen:
- Our stories get outsourced – Western outlets dominate how Africa is portrayed, often through a lens of poverty, instability, or exoticism.
- Talent leaks – Our best journalists, writers, and creatives leave for global platforms, weakening local ecosystems.
- Truth suffers – Without strong, independent media, corruption thrives, misinformation spreads, and democracy weakens.
No amount of fintech apps can protect people whose truth is silenced.
To African Investors
It comes down to this reality; if Africans don’t fund African media, we lose control of our narratives. And when we lose control of our narratives, we lose control of our future.
African VCs must begin to see media as essential infrastructure, just as important as payments, logistics, or energy. Our continent needs robust, well-capitalised platforms that can tell African stories for African audiences and global ones.
Because the soul of a continent is not measured in transactions per second, but in the stories it tells and the stories it owns.
We look forward to a time when VCs will begin to look at media as worthy of investment. It’s time to begin to seriously fund African media startups, not as charity, or as an afterthought, but as a strategy.
Read Also: https://techsudor.com/africans-must-fund-africa-using-local-capital-to-unlock-our-future/
