Nairobi, March 24 -- Kenya has defied a global funding drought for budding companies to post a 17 percent increase in new start-up investments, toppling Nigeria and Egypt as the continent's largest destination for start-up financing.

In 2023, 62 Kenyan start-ups raised an estimated $673.78 million from local and international investors, a rise from the $574.8 million raised in 2022, even as the rest of the continent saw a drop in funding, data by start-up research organisation, Disrupt Africa shows.

Nigeria and Egypt, which dominated the start-up funding space in Africa over the past decade, 2023 recorded a drop, which resulted from a global slowdown in investments due to a cocktail of macroeconomic challenges across the world.

"Unlike...