African tech mergers and acquisitions have more than doubled in 2026, with 84 deals tracked so far carrying a disclosed value of $11.4 billion, well ahead of the 68 deals recorded across all of 2025.
The pace has been steady rather than front-loaded on a single quarter. Q1 2026 led with 37 deals, and activity has continued at a strong clip through the rest of the year to date, with the count running from January 1 through August 17.
Southern Africa leads the continent with 24 deals, followed by Northern Africa with 18. By country, South Africa tops the list with 22 deals, with Nigeria and Egypt tied at 12 apiece. The activity is not confined to the continent either, eight acquisitions by African companies landed outside Africa, including four in the UK and one each in the US, France, Germany and Canada.
Financial services dominates the sector breakdown, accounting for 27 of the 84 deals, roughly a third of all activity, even as more than 12 sectors recorded at least one buyout. The biggest single transactions of the year include MTN Group’s $6.2 billion acquisition of IHS Towers, Vodacom’s $2.1 billion stake in Safaricom, a $1.29 billion three-way merger between Pepkor, Flash and Shop2Shop, and Nedbank’s $850 million purchase of NCBA Group.
What stands out to me is the split forming inside fintech itself. One group, companies like Flutterwave, Moniepoint, Wave and Selcom, is acquiring banking licences while founders keep control of the business. The other, banks like Nedbank buying iKhokha and Capitec buying Walletdoc, is going the opposite direction, with the acquiring bank taking operational authority over the fintech it buys. Both paths lead toward the same convergence of payments and banking, but who ends up in charge of the combined business looks very different depending on which side initiates the deal.
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Looking ahead, two anticipated listings could add further scale to the numbers: OPay is reportedly targeting a $4 billion US listing, while PalmPay is said to be exploring a Hong Kong listing that could raise more than $200 million. Neither has been finalized, but both would extend a year that has already reshaped how consolidation is happening across African tech.
