Nigerian Tech Startups That Raised Funding in 2026.
This is a brief and practical roadmap of CONNEXTS that features Nigerian technology startups and efforts acquiring funding and support in 2026.
Nigerian startup ecosystem began the year 2026 at a slower, but more robust rate. The tightening environment was seen in the funding activity in January as investors sought more explicit avenues to revenue and better governance. Nevertheless, the investment continues to flow to startups with real solutions, especially in mobility, infrastructure, deeptech, and energy.
The following are the Nigerian technology startups and projects that have already been funded and supported in 2026.
MAX was first in line raising a total of 24 million in January. The mobility and logistic firm received venture capital of 12 million dollars with the support of Equitane, Novastar Ventures, Endeavor, and other investors as well as debt facility of 12 million dollars with the backing of the Energy Entrepreneurs Growth Fund and other investors. This is the combination of both equity and debt that indicates an increasing trend of startups to minimize the cost of capital.
Terra Industries, a deeptech startup, beat the largest pure venture round of January by raising 11.8 million in seed funding. This highlights increasing investor interest in science based and industry solutions to alternatives to the typical fintech investments.
OneDosh has raised a $3 million pre-seed round, and Tuteria, an edtech platform, has raised venture funding of $2.6 million, which means that interest in education and skills- oriented platforms is not waning.
Cardtonic has seed capital of 2.1 million. Its fintech platform that serves more than 1.5 million users is still expanding its payment infrastructure such as the first contactless virtual card to be used by Nigerians.
Beacon Power Services raised funds by way of debt financing the energy sector (2 million dollars), indicating that investors are still interested in power-technology solutions- who remained critical with a situation where Nigeria faces electricity problems.
Paycrest is a fintech infrastructure player that raised a pre-seed funding of $400,000.
Note Mono was not listed on funding lists as its transaction was not venture capital but an all-stock acquisition by Flutterwave with a valuation of between $25 and 40 million an M&A exit indicating another roadmap to startup success.
Other than individual startups, large projects are injecting huge amounts of capital into the ecosystem. Application to the federal government iDICE Startup Bridge Programme is open and has been targeting over 500 Nigerian technology entrepreneurs in the country.
The programme is part of the larger Investment in Digital and Creative Enterprises project, a project of the federal government that costs 617M and is implemented by the Bank of Industry, funded by the African Development Bank, the Agence Francaise de Developpement and the Islamic Development Bank.
There are two ways in which founders can act. Founders Lab 12 weeks idea-stage entrepreneur capacity building programme. Mentorship and training are provided to 250 participants annually and 100 of the best performing founders are given grants up to N10 million (about 7,200 to develop their product or start up a venture ). The applications open on January 16, 2026, and close on April 20, 2026.
Growth Lab will open in a later stage and will reach those startups that already have ready minimum viable products and market penetration. The companies that are chosen will have an equity injection of $100,000 and assistance to expand operations, reinforce the management, and perfect fundraising solutions. The programme will also establish pipeline with institutional investors and can offer match funding .
In late 2025, the iDICE initiative was the first startup investment, done through Ventures Platform, a pan-African seed-stage fund that has invested in more than 90 startups, including Paystack, Piggyvest, Moniepoint, and LemFi. The fund had a first close of 64 million and support has come in the form of iDICE, IFC, Standard Bank of South Africa and British International Investment.
The Hackaholics Accelerator of Wema Bank introduced its cohort of 2026, consisting of ten startups chosen among the best finalists of Hackaholics 6.0. These startups are Farmslate, Ploy, Stocmed, Feest (Chao), Varsityscape, MamaAlert, Sane, Cyclex, Kieva and Loocomo.
Since its inception in 2019, Hackaholics has received applications of more than 15,000 and granted more than 400,000 in financing to young creators. Rapid mentorship, strategic advice, and networks are available through the accelerator.
The National Board for Technology Incubation has announced NEXTGEN Innovation Challenge 2026, a platform that is expected to speed up the innovation-driven entrepreneurship and is attracting the international investment. The programme will involve innovation boot camps in Abuja and a grand finale in October 2026 in London and is organised in collaboration with the UK-based consultancy firm UKALD.
Some of the priority areas are artificial intelligence and robotics, advanced semiconductors, 6G and AI-integrated telecommunications, green and renewable energy, climate resilience, agri-tech, health-tech, and women-in-tech innovations. The programme will help Nigeria link its innovators to international investors, development finance bodies and multilateral agencies.
What This Means for Founders
The amount of money raised a month earlier in January 2026 was 45.9 million, which is lower than the amount raised in January 2025, 81.2 million, a reduction of 43.47 percent or year on year. This does not imply that capital has become dry, just that expectations have changed. Shareholders are now concerned with sustainability rather than expansion by any means. Companies whose revenue model is clear, have good governance and have a solution to such basic problems as mobility, energy, and infrastructure are still raising lots of funds.
The easy money and fast mega-rounds are long gone. However, to the founders of real solutions to real problems, 2026 will continue to have significant opportunities with private investment as well as government-supported programs such as iDICE, Hackaholics and NEXTGEN.
The basics are good: a big consumer base, high technical skills and founders who are familiar with local nuances as well as international capital flows.
Do you have a startup that needs capital? Comment and post your startup and have the CONEXTS community help you out.
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