Private Capital Activity Report
Q2 2026 Private Capital in Africa Activity Report
Analyse Where Capital Moved, How It Was Deployed, and What It Means for Africa's Private Markets in Q2 2026
This report analyses private market transaction activity across Africa for the second quarter of 2026. It covers growth equity, private equity, private debt, infrastructure financing, and mergers and acquisitions. In Q2 2026, Africa recorded 221 transactions, up 19% from the revised Q1 figure of 185, with transaction value disclosure reaching 69%, the highest in recent comparable quarters. Each transaction in this report is independently verified against at least two third-party sources. For fund managers, institutional investors, DFIs, and corporate decision-makers tracking capital activity across the continent, this is the most current and granular view of where African private capital is being deployed.
What's Inside the Report?
Ticket Size Analysis: Q2 2026 activity was strongest at the extremes of the ticket-size distribution. Micro deals below $2.5M rose from 29% to 48% of disclosed transactions. Mega deals above $75M rose from 19 to 24 in absolute terms. The mid-market ($2.5M to $75M) fell from 54% to 37%. The report analyses what this signals about underlying market depth and investor composition.
Mergers and Acquisitions: M&A represented 14% of recorded transactions in Q2 2026, down from 24% in Q1, with disclosed value declining to $2.9B from $6.9B. The largest deal was the $2.7B acquisition of Payoneer by a group led by Nuvei Corporation. Three AI acquisitions also featured: BlueChip Technologies/YarnGPT, CNTXT AI/Actualize, and Yoco/Dynai.ai, signalling a shift from AI investment to platform consolidation.
Exit Analysis and the SVL Index: Q2 2026 recorded seven exits, the lowest quarterly count since Q4 2022. The SVL Index fell to 82.46, below the long-run average of 100 and down from 114.37 in Q1 2026. The decline was driven by exit volume rather than a broad deterioration across liquidity indicators. The quarter's most notable exit, Beltone Venture Capital and Citadel's exit from Bosta, generated a 75% IRR.
Investor League Table: ISFD and the Islamic Development Bank led transaction count with 36 each, driven by the Tadamon Accelerator for Food Security grant programme. By disclosed value, Standard Bank Group ($1.7B), IFC ($966M), and AfDB ($636M) anchored the aggregate. The report provides the full league table, separating volume leaders from capital deployers.
Sectoral Insights: Financial Services led with 52 transactions and $6.7B in disclosed value, though its share fell from 50% to 34% as activity broadened. Within the sector, Payments Infrastructure accounted for $3.0B, equivalent to 28% of total disclosed value. The report covers sub-sector breakdowns, transaction type splits, and year-on-year comparisons
Regional Dynamics and Country Insights: West Africa led by volume (39%) and value ($8.9B), with Nigeria contributing $8.0B of the regional total. East Africa ranked second, Southern Africa third, North Africa fourth. Egypt led North Africa with 37 transactions and the highest single-country concentration at 68%. Kenya recorded 44 transactions but only 7 single-country deals (16%), reflecting a deal base tied to regional platforms. Country-level breakdowns cover Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Egypt, Uganda, Ghana, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, and Morocco.
Why Read This Report?
Ecosystem Liquidity Through the SVL Index: The SVL Index is a proprietary quarterly gauge of ecosystem liquidity, measuring exit rate alongside buyer diversity and exit routes. For LPs with existing exposure and GPs managing realisation timelines, it provides the empirical basis for assessing whether capital can be realised from African private market positions, not just deployed.
Sector and Sub-Sector Depth: Sector analysis here goes beyond top-line counts to cover sub-sector concentration, transaction type splits, and regional trends
Country-Level Granularity: The report tracks single-country versus multi-country attribution across all active markets. Egypt's 68% single-country concentration and Kenya's 16% represent two different private capital environments despite similar headline transaction counts. That distinction materially changes how country rankings should be read.
Proprietary Data Depth: The Stears Private Transactions Database covers growth equity, private equity, private debt, infrastructure financing, and M&A across Africa. Each transaction is independently verified against at least two sources, making the Q2 2026 report the most comprehensive view of African private capital transaction activity available in a single dataset.
Debt vs Equity; Understanding What Drives Aggregate Value: Debt financing accounted for 62% of Q2 2026's disclosed value despite representing 28% of transaction volume. Understanding which institutions anchor each layer of the market is essential to interpreting quarterly data without misreading the composition of activity.
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