Lagos Hosts Africa’s Brightest Innovators at Moonshot 2025

Lagos, Nigeria, hosted Africa’s leading policymakers, investors, and innovators for the two-day Moonshot by TechCabal 2025 summit. Now in its third edition, the conference attracted more than 4,000 attendees from over 15 countries across Africa’s tech ecosystem.

Moonshot by TechCabal Returns Bigger and Better

Under the theme ‘Building Momentum: Africa’s Tech Ecosystem Positions Itself for Its Next Big Leap,’ conversations centered on aligning policy, capital, and innovation to drive integration and scalable impact across markets.

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The event opened with a keynote address from Tomiwa Aladekomo, Chief Host and CEO of Big Cabal Media, the parent company of TechCabal. He highlighted the growing maturity of Africa’s digital economy and the critical role of collaboration in achieving sustainable growth across the continent.

UrbanGeekz Team at Moonshot

“We have survived the downtimes and failures, and those lessons are driving the next round of innovation,” Aladekomo said. “We are not here to ask if it’s possible; we need to know what is true.”

He also stated that the ecosystem is entering a phase where scale and collaboration will be critical. “Our challenge now is to turn shared intent into collective execution that transforms the continent’s economic future. Moonshot 2025 is a call for alignment – of ambition, infrastructure, and action.”

After a global funding slowdown in 2023 and 2024, African tech is gradually showing signs of recovery. In the first half of 2025, startups raised $1.42 billion across 243 deals, representing an 78 percent increase compared to the same period in the previous year. 

With more startups scaling internationally and exporting solutions to global markets, the priority is to strengthen deal flow now, boost investor confidence, and create robust exits to sustain long-term growth.

Conversations at The Conference

Sessions in the conference delved into topics such as The Future of Finance, what’s driving Africa’s next leap, How Nigeria is Leading the Leap in Digital Trade for a Connected Continent, Designing for Billions: What Big Tech Teaches About Impact, and many more.

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Some of the dignitaries who graced the event include Ebi Atawodi – Senior Director of Product Management, Google; Olu Oyinsan, MD, Oui Capital; Eloho Omame, Partner, TLcom Capital; Odun Eweniyi, Co-founder and General Partner, FirstCheck Africa; Dr Jumoke Oduwole- Minister of Trade, Industry and Investment, Nigeria; Iyin Aboyeji – CEO, Future Africa, and others.

In one of the fireside chats titled “Banking on Africa’s 100BN diaspora capital goldmine”, one of the panelists, Ejike Egbuagu, the founder of Moneda Invest Africa, said that “the Onus is on SME’s to use knowledge to drive attention of customers to the opportunities abounding in Africa”.

On answering the question of how to close the trust gap, he stated that “the right people need to step up. The people who have the required competence and who won’t let the investors down need to step forward.”

UrbanGeekz’s reporter, Stephen Oluwadara, with Iyin Aboyeji at Moonshot

UrbanGeekz caught up with Iyin Aboyeji, who holds the enviable record of co-founding two African tech unicorns – Andela (a global talent marketplace) and Flutterwave (a FinTech company). He now leads Future Africa, which has invested in over 100 companies across the continent.

We asked him what the most promising sectors are for non-Africans looking to invest on the continent. “The most exciting sector to invest in Africa is talent,” he said. “You can mentor, pour into, or invest in someone getting a skill, and they can be your support. With the current exchange rate, $100 is a good starting point for most people, and you can do more than that as they grow.”

According to TechCabal Insights, the first half of 2025 marked a confident rebound for the African tech ecosystem, following two years of market corrections that came after the unprecedented peaks of 2021 and 2022, attracting over $1.42 billion in funding across 243 deals. 

In H1 2025, Africa has raised $1.421.4M so far, surpassing the amount raised in the first half of 2024 ($797.3M). It is also on a strong roadmap to challenge the full-year total of 2024 ($2.24B), signaling a significant return of investor confidence.

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This resurgence was driven by a focus on quality, with investors concentrating capital in sectors like Fintech, which alone captured nearly 45% of all funding with $638.8 million.

Main Image: Panalists  on stage at Moonshot by TechCabal 2025