UK emerges as key base for African tech startups

The United Kingdom (UK) has emerged as a key international base for African tech companies, offering a mix of incorporation, operations and regulatory licensing that sets it apart from other global markets, according to a new report.

TLP Advisory, a cross-border venture law practice with its origins in Nigeria, has released its third annual report, Home and Away: Tracking African Tech’s Global Footprint, which examined 100 tech companies across Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Egypt, Ghana and Morocco, and their affiliations with the UK, US and UAE.

It found the US is largely associated with financing-linked incorporation, while the UAE serves as an operational base with access to the wider Middle East. The UK combines both, alongside a broader commercial presence.

Of the companies with UK affiliations, 84 per cent are incorporated there, 47 per cent have an operational presence, and 19 per cent hold regulatory licences. Just three per cent of US-affiliated companies and four per cent of UAE-affiliated companies hold licences in those markets.

“A round closed in Delaware and a licence in London are both important but they play very distinct roles,” said Odunoluwa Longe, co-founder and partner at TLP Advisory. “Our recommendation to founders is to be deliberate about what they want to achieve in each market.”

The UAE is the most operationally focused of the three markets, with 87 per cent of UAE-connected companies running operations there. Its regional pull is strongest among Egyptian startups, 70 per cent of which have a UAE affiliation, compared with 50 per cent for the US.

For fintechs in particular, the UK offers an established market and a large African diaspora. The report also highlights the SEIS and EIS investor tax relief schemes, the Global Entrepreneur Programme, English common law, and access to public markets through the London Stock Exchange and AIM as key draws.

“The UK didn’t feel foreign to us,” said Alex Forsyth-Thompson, founder and CEO of South African fintech Float. “There are a lot of South Africans here, so we had social capital from day one.”

The full report can be downloaded for free here.

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