Angola’s startups thrive on founders building sustainable business without funding

Angola has quietly emerged as the leading startup hub in Central Africa without any mega-funding rounds.

This is while many of Africa’s tech coverage is all about Nigerian fintechs raising tens of millions or Kenyan unicorns,

According to the Global Startup Ecosystem Index 2025, Angola now ranks first in its region, surpassing peers like Cameroon, Gabon and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

What’s behind this rise are grounded founders building practical, sustainable businesses and not pitches.

The top three companies in Angola illustrate this approach as Tupuca (a delivery app), Jobartis (a job-matching platform) and Mamboo (a marketing tool) have together gained more traction than many heavily financed startups elsewhere.

A highlight of Jobartis, founded in 2013 as a simple job board, now spans five countries including Angola, DR Congo, Gabon, Cameroon and Zambia, all without announcing any major Series A funding.

This useful pattern repeats across sectors such as real-estate where AngoCasa draws over a million visits monthly.

AngoCarro, an automotive-listings site, maintains over 1,000 active ads.

In fintech, BODIVA runs Angola’s capital-markets infrastructure under government oversight, while PayPay Africa facilitates QR-code payments which is essential financial plumbing rather than speculative disruption.

Appy Saúde, in health tech, delivers health information via mobile apps, and AKROS builds data systems for underserved communities which is a mission-driven effort that may not attract Silicon Valley attention but serve critical needs.

Angola now ranks 108th globally in the Startup Ecosystem Index, an achievement given its oil-dependent economy, infrastructure challenges and limited venture-capital inflows.

The story of Angola’s rising startup scene challenges the norm around many tech stories as the real wins are coming from startups solving everyday problems in tough markets often quietly and consistently.

Folake Balogun

Folake Balogun is a renowned tech journalist who offers insightful and critical analysis of the African rapidly growing digital economy, particularly within Nigeria. She closely monitors the health of the African startup ecosystem by covering significant venture capital trends, investment deals, and the challenges faced by emerging firms. Known for her deep dives into the fintech sector, she covers the evolution of digital payments, dynamics of major financial innovations and also extends to emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the future of connectivity by providing context to their economic and social impact.