Proptech Funding Africa Nigeria: Why Digital Real Estate Is Urgent
Morocco just proved something important: African proptech can attract serious institutional money.
In January 2026, Yakeey, a Moroccan real estate technology startup, closed a $15 million Series A round led by Egyptian investment firm Beltone. This is Morocco’s largest proptech funding round ever. The company’s mission is simple digitize property transactions and bring transparency to Morocco’s real estate market.
Meanwhile, Nigeria, with a real estate market many times larger and a 28 million housing deficit, continues to struggle with attracting similar investment in digital infrastructure.
The contrast raises an urgent question:
If Morocco can digitize real estate with $15 million, why isn’t Nigeria leading this revolution?
Why Morocco Attracted $15 Million in Proptech
Yakeey convinced institutional investors because it addresses a fundamental problem.
Morocco’s real estate market, like most African markets, operates on paper records, personal connections, and limited transparency. Buyers cannot easily verify property ownership. Banks struggle to assess collateral. Transactions take weeks or months because records are fragmented.
Yakeey built a digital platform that streamlines transactions, verifies titles, and improves transparency. Investors saw a clear path to profitability in a market ready for disruption.
The International Finance Corporation had already considered investing up to $7 million in Yakeey in late 2025. The $15 million Series A followed months later, confirming that transparent, data-driven real estate attracts serious capital.
This funding reflects a broader trend. Africa’s tech sector is expanding, and proptech is finally gaining attention.
Nigeria’s Real Estate Market: Bigger but Blind
Nigeria’s real estate market is larger than Morocco’s in size, population, and economic potential. Yet most property transactions still happen on paper.
Certificate of Occupancy processing can take months or even years. Land title disputes clog the courts because digital records are incomplete or inconsistent. Buyers cannot verify ownership history online. Real estate agents operate without a centralized Multiple Listing Service. Banks struggle to assess property collateral because data is scattered and unreliable.
Former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo recently called for digitized land records as part of solving Nigeria’s housing crisis. He emphasized that fragmented ownership and speculative land banking drive up housing costs.
Without digital infrastructure, Nigeria cannot scale housing delivery. You cannot build 28 million homes without reliable data on land availability and ownership.
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What Digitization Would Unlock in Nigeria
Digital real estate infrastructure is not just about convenience. It unlocks capital, reduces fraud, improves affordability, and enables better planning.
When property data is transparent, investors trust the market. When title verification becomes faster, transaction costs drop. When land records are digitized, governments can enforce zoning, assess taxes fairly, and plan infrastructure more effectively.
Climate risk assessment also depends on digital systems. Nigeria sometimes builds luxury estates on flood-prone land without publicly available risk data. Digitization would allow buyers, insurers, and banks to price climate risk more accurately.
Morocco is building this infrastructure with $15 million. Nigeria needs it even more urgently.
Conclusion
Yakeey’s $15 million Series A proves that African proptech is investable.
Morocco recognized that transparency drives growth and attracted institutional capital to build it.
Nigeria has a larger market, a bigger housing deficit, and a greater need for digital infrastructure.
If Morocco can transform real estate with $15 million, Nigeria should be attracting significantly more.
The technology exists. The business case is clear.
The real question is whether Nigeria’s government and investors will act before another African country takes the lead in digitizing the continent’s largest real estate market.