On December 10, 2020, the StarNews platform raised $1.8 million, including $1 million from Investisseurs & Partenaires (I&P), a specialist in impact investing. This fundraising was aimed at positioning the startup in the English-speaking regions of Africa.
“We are already present in South Africa and we have just arrived in Nigeria. We are in the process of establishing ourselves in Ghana and we will be in Kenya soon. By the end of 2021, we will be present in 6 new countries. We plan to double the number of channels and the number of our subscribers. Nigeria alone represents 3 times the size of the market in which we were present! We plan to raise new funds at the end of the year, because our objective is to raise between 30 and 40 million dollars by the end of 2023,” said CEO and founder Guy Kamgaing.
StarNews has now, also, entered into a partnership deal with Solutions on Point, a 360 degree marketing agency based in South Africa. The goal of their collaboration is the establishment of a Youth Initiative incubator, geared towards empowering young people interested in the digital film industry. The startup has equally announced it had entered the Nigerian market.
As part of the South African initiative, young innovators will be offered mentoring, entrepreneurship guidance and career opportunities. The challenge is to help them lift themselves out of poverty. The incubator serves as a springboard for people to come together, master new expertise and cultivate a thriving community.
A Look At What StarNews Does
Founded in 2017 in Cote D’ivoire, StarNews Mobile is the project of Cameroonian Guy Kamgaing who has over 20 years of experience in the mobile telecom industry.
“I started in January 2016, with $ 250,000 in equity to deploy the platform and carry out the first proof of concept,” said Kamgaing. “At the beginning of 2018, I raised $100,000 as part of a “Friends & Family Round”; and during the summer of 2019, I raised an additional 600,000 dollars from Business Angels based in California.”
The startup which is present in four countries, is a network of mobile video channels that allows celebrities and brands to monetize their fan bases in Africa, the world’s fastest growing mobile market. StarNews Mobile works with popular local and international stars such as Davido (Nigeria — 12.7M followers), Fally Ipupa (Congo — 3M followers) or Sauti Sol (Kenya — 2.2M followers) to create exclusive and addictive short videos that fans are eager to pay for.
Read also: Cameroonian Media Startup StarNews Mobile Raises Funds From Investisseurs & Partenaires
The startup also allows creators to earn new income and advertisers to reach their target audiences. The startup claims to have 5 million subscribers already. To date, the company has also around 40 employees spread across Canada, the United States, India, France and Africa.
Available in Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Congo and South Africa, StarNews is working with large pan-African mobile operators such as MTN, Orange and MOOV in order to distribute exclusive and quality video content directly to users.
On what inspired him into toeing the startup line, Kamgaing had this to say:
“I grew up in Douala before coming to Paris for my studies. In 1995, I left France for the United States where I obtained an MBA from the University of California. I have stayed there ever since. I followed an engineering course before becoming an auditor at PwC. At that time, I was already attracted to entrepreneurship and I had the chance to work in consulting in new technologies and telecoms where my interest was born. From the beginning of the 2000s, the needs generated by the telecoms sector in Cameroon were considerable, especially in terms of equipment. I took the opportunity to get into entrepreneurship, with one foot on every continent. It was an exciting adventure that ended in 2006, when the Chinese arrived, with rock-bottom prices. Some time later, the arrival of 4G raised new expectations and new needs for value-added services, especially in the area of videos.”
On the idea of StarNews, he further added:
“…as early as 2012, I decided to focus on Africa when I lived in Los Angeles, the “city” of media par excellence. The contrast between my life in the United States and my life in Africa, where I returned regularly, allowed me to measure the potential of Cameroon where a lot still has to be done, in terms of local content. I embarked on different activities which have worked quite well. So when 4G came to Africa, I was ready.”
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer
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