Ayoken, an NFT marketplace for creatives, has raised $1.4 million in pre-seed funding to help users grow their revenue streams by selling digital artifacts. Founders Factory Africa, Kon Ventures of Texas, Crypto League of Europe, R9C Ventures of Ghana, and Maximus Ventures are among the investors in this round.
Ayoken intends to use the funds generated to secure exclusive deals with musicians and form relationships with telcos, in addition to expanding its team and secondary marketplaces.
“A majority of the funding will go into buying exclusive licenses and into building our tech team, that is the developers and engineers by fourfold,” founder Joshua King said.
A Look At What The Startup Does
Ayokenlabs, founded in 2021 by Joshua King, serves as a link between fans and musicians, giving them a stake in their favorites’ success.
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Fans will be able to obtain tokens such as behind-the-scenes footage and album art through the NFT marketplace, according to Joshua King. Other benefits include access to unreleased music and special live events by the creatives.
“Through VIP passes, fans will be able to listen to songs by these artists before it is available on Spotify, YouTube, or Apple Music. Fans will also receive discounts for future events “King has 14 years of experience in strategy, growth, and innovation consulting, as well as entrepreneurship. His professional experience includes assisting in the growth of AZA (Bitpesa), a Nairobi-based company that uses bitcoin to allow cross-border transfers and where he first became acquainted with crypto and blockchain technology.
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Ayoken will release NFTs of several big African artists, as well as others from throughout the world, according to King.
The London-based firm has already collaborated with Ghanaian afrobeats musician KiDi (Dennis Nana Dwamena) for his debut NFT release on June 1st. The cross-chain marketplace (now built on the Avalanche blockchain) accepts crypto and card payments, but wants to incorporate mobile money as the firm makes it easier for consumers in emerging markets like Africa to trade. King stated that they are seeking collaborations with a number of African carriers to make this a reality.
Ayoken NFT marketplace Ayoken NFT marketplace
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexperts.com/view_expert/charles-rapulu-udoh