Tunisia Startup Funding Trends 2024–2026: Boom, Then Freeze

Tunisian startup funding has risen from a very low base, but it has not been stable. Industry counts show about $24 million raised in 2024 and $39 million in 2025. Then disclosed equity deals almost stopped in the first half of 2026. For fintech founders, the numbers show both how small the market is and where the money still comes from.

Tunisia startup funding trends in numbers

Trackers use different methods, so treat each figure as an order of magnitude, not an exact total.

• 2022: Tunisian startups raised about $17 million, not counting InstaDeep, according to Partech figures quoted by TechCrunch.
• 2024: more than $24 million across 11 deals, according to the Startup Genome 2025 report cited by La Presse. The same report found 56% more active investors than in 2023.
• 2025: $39 million across 17 venture deals, which put Tunisia 7th in Africa by both value and deal count in AVCA data reported by African Manager.
• H1 2026: Launch Base Africa found almost no disclosed equity rounds (more below).

For comparison, AVCA's 2025 figures give Egypt $604 million, Kenya $335 million and Morocco $114 million. Across the continent, Partech counted $4.1 billion in African tech funding in 2025: $2.4 billion in equity and a record $1.6 billion in debt. Fintech took $769 million of the equity (see African fintech funding). Tunisia gets a very small share of that.

What 2025 looked like: small tickets, foreign co-investors

Most Tunisian deals are seed or pre-seed rounds, and many amounts are not disclosed. Launch Base Africa counted six disclosed deals worth about $5.4 million in the first half of 2025. Rounds reported during the year included:

• Kumulus Water (climate tech): a $3.5 million seed round led by Plus VC.
• EasyBank (fintech): $370,000, announced in January 2025.
• Konnect Networks (payments): an undisclosed round in May 2025 with Attijariwafa Ventures, the corporate venture arm of the Moroccan banking group, among the investors.
• Dabchy (marketplace): a pre-Series A led by Janngo Capital.
• PAYDAY (fintech/insurtech): a pre-seed round led by UGFS North Africa in October 2025.

Fintech appears often in this list, but the largest single round went to climate tech. The amounts are also small. One $3.5 million round made up about two-thirds of the disclosed first-half total.

The ANAVA effect

Most local capital now comes through funds backed by ANAVA, the fund of funds managed by Smart Capital. Its first close was €60 million, with €40 million from the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (financed by a World Bank loan) and €20 million from Germany's KfW. ANAVA has committed about €45 million to ten venture funds, including 216 Capital, Go Big Partners' Go Live Fund, Medin's Titan Seed Fund, Flat6Labs and UGFS's New Era Fund (details in our ANAVA explainer).

In practice, the most active cheque-writers in 2025–2026 were these ANAVA-backed seed funds. 216 Capital alone invested in Juridoc.tn, Addvocate.AI, EYST and RoboCare between March 2025 and June 2026, as reported by Wamda. Several of the regional funds ANAVA backed only have to put part of their capital into Tunisia, so the effect on Tunisia itself is smaller than the headline amount.

The first half of 2026: a near-freeze

In July 2026, Launch Base Africa reported that Tunisia had almost no disclosed equity deals in the first half of the year. It named one six-figure investment, by 216 Capital in agritech startup RoboCare. Wamda also reported a six-figure investment by 216 Capital in insurtech EYST in May 2026. Over the same period, Morocco recorded more than $30 million across eight disclosed rounds.

Launch Base Africa gave several reasons for the slowdown:

• The May 2025 labour law, which ended most fixed-term contracts and banned labour subcontracting. That raised fixed costs for startups that used outsourced developers or support staff (see labour reform and startups).
• Foreign-exchange restrictions. A December 2025 amendment allowing residents to hold foreign-currency accounts still depended on central bank circulars that had not yet been issued when the article was published.
• The wider economy: investment had fallen to about 8% of GDP in 2023, along with high food inflation and graduate emigration.
• Development finance institutions pausing: Proparco and Bpifrance made no new Tunisian investments in the first half of 2026.

Many small deals are never announced, so "almost zero disclosed" does not mean no money changed hands. Still, the slowdown is clear when you compare it with 2025.

Why it matters for fintech founders

• Expect seed-sized rounds. With roughly $25–40 million a year for the whole ecosystem, few local investors can lead a Series A. Founders often bring in regional or European co-investors from an early stage.
• Regulation shapes your fundraising. Investors look closely at licensing risk, so being in the BCT regulatory sandbox or having a clear route to a payment institution licence affects how much a fintech can raise.
• Corporate and strategic investors matter. Konnect's round, backed by a bank-owned investment arm and Visa's accelerator, shows one route that does not depend on Tunisian VC alone.
• Exits are rare. InstaDeep (2023) and Expensya (2023) are still the reference exits, and both companies built most of their business outside Tunisia.

What to watch in 2026–2027

The key signals are whether the central bank issues the circulars that put the FX reform into effect, whether ANAVA's remaining commitments reach new funds, and whether second-half 2026 data shows a recovery. Our practical fundraising guide covers what founders can do in the meantime.