Africa-focused mobile games publisher Carry1st has raised an additional USD $2.5m in its latest funding round, bringing its total capital raised to $4m.
Investment was led by CRE Venture Capital, with participation from Perivoli Innovations, Chandaria Capital, Lateral Capital, Transsion’s Future Hub, and Kam Kronenberg III among others. Pardon Makumbe, Managing Partner at CRE, and Henry Lowenfels, Chief Product Officer of One Team Partners (formerly Scopely SVP) will also join the company’s board.
The publisher, which launched in 2019 and has offices in New York, Cape Town and Lagos, and serves the first generation of African smartphone users, says it plans to use the new capital to recruit more top-tier talent, develop its platform technology, and publish new content.
Carry1st Trivia was ranked the #1 free-to-play Android game in Nigeria and Kenya, and the company says it has now reached over 1.5 million users across the region. It now plans to partner with international studios to launch multiple new games in 2020 and scale its audience to over a million monthly active users.
Discussing developments Carry1st CEO and former Carlyle dealmaker, Cordel Robbin-Coker, said:
“Social gaming is the largest and fastest-growing form of mobile media, grossing more than three times all other app categories combined. Our mission is to bring this world of interactive content to Africa and likewise to connect Africa to the world.
“Our belief is that building a local publisher, with differentiated tech and operating capabilities across marketing, distribution, and monetization is the way to be this bridge. We are pleased to partner with CRE and our investor group to accelerate this vision.”
While CRE Partner, Pardon Makumbe, added:
“We are excited to partner with the world-class team at Carry1st to take the pain out of distributing and monetizing games across Africa.
“The continent is young, vibrant, and mobile-first — by focusing on the building blocks, we believe Carry1st is well-positioned to define the category, and catalyse the development of the industry for Africa’s over 1.3 billion consumers.”
And, Carry1st VO of Operations, Lucy Hoffman, said:
“It’s really exciting to be part of developing a new industry in an emerging region. In doing so, we will stimulate thousands of jobs and drive digital inclusion. When people come online for the first time, they want to connect with people and have fun. In these unusual times we are reminded of the power of games to delight, to educate, and ultimately to unite.”
By 2025 it is estimated that Africa will have added more than 350 million smartphone users and increased data consumption by 17 times.
AYO.NEWS says:
Despite its clear potential, the African market is still sadly neglected by many international publishers, so companies like Carry1st are very well placed to capitalise on the potential, and this extra funding should go a long way to enabling them to do just that.
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