Posted on by Karim Mestadi

Morocco’s Startup Funding Landscape: Momentum Builds Amid Modest Volumes

The Moroccan startup ecosystem continues to evolve with notable growth in both the volume of deals and overall funding. While absolute capital inflows remain relatively modest compared to Africa’s leading tech hubs, Morocco’s progress reflects rising investor confidence, targeted government initiatives, and increasing sectoral diversity.

Market Landscape & Deal Flow

Size & Growth (2024)

In 2024, Moroccan startups raised approximately $94.96 million across ~40 deals, a sharp increase from $33.26 million in 2023. This nearly threefold growth underscores a strengthening pipeline and a broadening base of active investors.

Despite this momentum, Morocco still lags behind leading African ecosystems such as Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa, where individual late-stage rounds frequently exceed Morocco’s annual aggregate funding. The Moroccan ecosystem is still in a capital formation stage, with domestic funds relatively small in size and foreign investors often hesitant to commit at scale due to exit constraints and limited late-stage opportunities.

Stage Distribution & Verticals

The distribution of deals in 2024 continues to reflect a front-loaded market:

 

    • Stage concentration: Most activity remains at seed, pre-Series A, and early growth stages. Large, late-stage rounds are still a rarity, highlighting structural bottlenecks in Morocco’s ability to scale ventures from early promise to regional dominance.
    • Ticket sizes: The majority of transactions fall below $5 million, in contrast to Lagos, Nairobi, or Cape Town, where $20–50M rounds are increasingly common. This reinforces the view of Morocco as an ecosystem in its early-growth inflection point, rather than a late-stage capital destination.

Sectoral distribution

 

Certain verticals dominated activity in 2024, aligning with both investor appetite and government policy priorities:

    • Fintech – benefiting from high financial inclusion gaps and a strong payments/logistics backbone. Several startups are building infrastructure to serve SMEs and consumers.
    • Travel & Mobility – tourism-driven demand and urban mobility challenges continue to attract venture funding.
    • B2B SaaS – Morocco’s SME-heavy economy creates opportunities for digitization tools, often exportable across Francophone Africa.
    • Healthtech – COVID-19 created momentum for digital health adoption, with new startups leveraging telemedicine, diagnostics, and health logistics.
    • Gaming / Creative Tech – a standout vertical, explicitly backed by government investment and policy support. The state’s push to develop Morocco into a regional gaming hub (with training programs, incubation facilities, and direct capital allocation) distinguishes it from other African markets.

This diversification is critical, as Morocco seeks to position itself beyond a fintech-dominated narrative, which defines much of Africa’s venture activity.

Deal Dynamics

Geographic concentration: Most of the country’s deal flow was clustered in Casablanca, Rabat, and Marrakech, which host the majority of incubators, accelerators, corporate VCs, and investor networks. This concentration has both advantages (density of talent and capital) and drawbacks (limited regional inclusivity and underdeveloped secondary ecosystems).

Deal characteristics:

    • Average check sizes remain smaller than continental benchmarks.
    • A meaningful share of deals include local investors syndicating with international partners, an encouraging trend that reflects growing cross-border interest.
    • However, follow-on capital remains thin, forcing Moroccan startups to often relocate or redomicile to attract Series A+ funding from global funds.

Comparative dynamics: Unlike Lagos or Nairobi, which attract pan-African and international growth funds, Morocco’s ecosystem is more reliant on domestic vehicles (e.g., Al Mada Ventures, Maroc Numeric Fund, Outlierz, UM6P Ventures, Afrimobility, Azur Innovation Fund). While these are increasingly active, their fund sizes are modest relative to the scale needed to push startups toward unicorn trajectories.

Looking Ahead

2024’s data highlights a dual reality:

Positive trajectory – Morocco is clearly building momentum, with stronger year-on-year growth, diversification across verticals, and more visible investor activity.

Structural challenges – Deal sizes remain small, late-stage rounds are rare, and the ecosystem is heavily concentrated in three cities.

For Morocco to move closer to Africa’s leading ecosystems, several shifts will be necessary:

    • Larger domestic funds capable of writing $5M+ checks to support scale.
    • Greater foreign VC integration, particularly from Europe and the Gulf, to complement local capital.
    • Exit pathways (M&A, regional IPOs) that can recycle capital and validate valuations.
    • Regional expansion strategies – Moroccan startups must leverage the country’s position as a gateway to both Francophone Africa and Europe to attract global growth capital.

If these conditions evolve, Morocco could transform from an emerging venture market into a regional hub, with fintech, SaaS, and creative tech as leading pillars.

 

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Karim Mestadi Atlas Think Tank Member.

Karim Mestadi

Reimagining Morocco and Africa, where human brilliance meets digital excellence.

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