Number of new unicorns in Africa 2016-2021
Four African startups reached the unicorn status in 2021, meaning that they were valued at over one billion U.S. dollars. These were Wave, OPay, Swvl, and Flutterwave. The number of new unicorns on the continent was significantly high compared to the previous years. In comparison, Africa registered only one new unicorn in 2016, 2019, and 2020, while none in both 2017 and 2018.