Africans will soon have access to many more interesting games to choose from as South Africa’s gaming development startup Carry1st which looks to become Africa’s first super app maker, has raised seed round of $2.5 million led by Johannesburg based venture capital (VC) fund CRE Venture Capital.

“We’re looking to be the number one regional publisher of [gaming] content in the region…the publisher of record and the app store,” said Sierra Leonean founder Cordel Robbin-Coker.

Here Is What You Need To Know

• Apart from CRE Venture Capital, also participating in this round of funding are Perivoli Innovations, Kenya-based Chandaria Capital, US-based Lateral Capital and Transsion’s Future Hub, Kam Kronenberg III, among others. 
• The latest investment from CRE Venture Capital brings the company’s total VC to $4 million, which Carry1st will deploy to support and invest in game publishing across Africa.
• The startup will use a portion of its latest round and overall capital to bring more unique content onto its platform. “In order to do that, you need cash…to help a developer finish a game or entice a strong game to work with you,” said Robbin-Coker.
• The company will also expand its distribution channels, such as partnerships with mobile operators and the Carry1st Brand Ambassador program — a network of sales agents who promote and sell games across the continent.
• The company will also invest in the gaming market and itself.

“We want to dedicate at least a million dollars to actually going out and acquiring users and scaling our user base. And then, the final piece is really around the the tech platform that we’re looking to build,” said Robbin-Coker.

Why The Investors Invested

Investor CRE Venture Capital, lead investor in this round has been active on the African startup scene, investing in the continent’s leading startups such as Andela, Flexclub, Rensource, Gokada, Flutterwave, SweepSouth, Safeboda, among others. 

“We invest in visionary founders building category-defining tech companies
levered to Africa. We embark on the journey at Seed and Series A rounds. And we stay the course,” the VC notes on its website. 

With this investment, Pardon Makumbe, managing partner at CRE, and Henry Lowenfels, chief product officer of One Team Partners, will join the startup’s board.

Read also: Barely A Year After, South African Insurance Startup Inclusivity Solutions Raises $1.3m From Goodwell Investments

A Look At What Startup Carry1st Does

The startup — with offices in New York, Lagos, and South Africa — was co-founded in 2018 by Sierra Leonean founder Cordel Robbin-Coker, American Lucy Parry, and Zimbabwean software engineer Tinotenda Mundangepfupfu.

Robbin-Coker and Parry met while working in investment banking in New York, before forming Carry1st.

Said Robbin-Coker in the same statement: 

“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 monetisation is the way to be this bridge,” he said.

Carry1st looks to match gaming demand in Africa to the continent’s fast growing youth population, improving internet penetration and rapid smartphone adoption.

Carry1st has already launched two games as direct downloads from its site, Carry1st Trivia and Hyper!.

“In April, [Carry1st Trivia] did pretty well. It was the number one game in Nigeria, and Kenya for most of the year and did about one and a half million downloads.” Robbin-Coker said.

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.