At a time when investors are showing preference for logistics, ecommerce and healthcare startups, Stears, the Nigerian media startup that operates Stears Business, has defied the odds to raise $600,000 in its seed funding.

“We found that there were challenges with the traditional media business model,” Preston Ideh, CEO of Stears and one of the startup’s four co-founders said. “Once you start relying on advertising…you may not get the freedom to really to do some in-depth work, most especially in the Nigerian media space.”

Here Is All You Need To Know

• The funding came from undisclosed Nigerian investors with participation from Luminate, a philanthropic organisation founded by the Omidyar Group.
• Stears will use the new funding to grow its team, collect data, and build out its media and information products.

“We believe that the problem we are built, designed and exist to solve is the information gap,” Preston Ideh, CEO of Stears, said in an interview. “Our mission regardless of the product or platform is always to make it easy for anyone to access high-quality information on Nigeria.”

Why The Investors Invested

Omidyar Network (Through Luminate)

Founded by the Omidyar Group  which is owned by Pierre Omidyar, the billionaire and founder of eBay, the Luminate Group invests in both for-profit and non-profit organisations across the world.

“We actively look for opportunities that align with our impact areas, values, and the countries we work in.

We make different types and sizes of investment and funding, depending on the opportunity. This has helped us build an exciting and diverse portfolio of organisations and companies from around the world. You can read more about our portfolio here,” says Luminate.

Recently, as a way of fighting disinformation and dangerous speech on WhatsApp and other encrypted messaging platforms, the Omidyar Group  invested in and partnered with a number of news companies and organisations.

Some of the Network’s Investment so far:

• The Network has invested over $1.46 billion in several ventures across Africa through grants and equity investments.
• In 2009, the firm invested $1.8 million in Bridge International Academies, a for-profit company that runs a network of low-cost primary schools in East Africa.
• The Network gave $400,000 to BudgIT, a start-up that gives Nigerian citizens access to, breakdown of and understanding of public budgets in 2014.
• The Network collaborated with Echo Venture Capital, in 2015, to invest about $1.2 million in Hotels.ng, a Nigerian online hotels listing and booking startup.
• The firm’s primary focus is on businesses and organisations with high social impact potential. It can fund or grant businesses up to $4 million.

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Read also: Here Is A List Of Some International Investment Funds Available To Startups In Africa

A Look At What Stears Business Does

Launched in 2017, Stears is a new media publication focused on data and information about the Nigerian economy.

The company was founded by Preston Ideh, Abdul Abdulrahim, Foluso Ogunlana and Michael Famoroti while they were all studying in the UK.

The idea for Stears had been a few years in the making. While they were students, the group identified that getting data about Nigeria is difficult. Also, Luminate, Stears’ latest investor, says trust in media is low in the country as many publications have extensive political affiliations.

The seed round is significant for a home-grown Nigerian media publication business in a space that has long been characterized by loss-making and an inability to fashion out commercially viable models without relying on government patronage. 234Next, an ambitious print and online media publication launched in 2009 by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Dele Olojede, shuttered operations after two years, after running into trouble with advertisers scared off by its investigative reporting.

By offering data and research services, Stears is part of a growing crop of new-age, homegrown economic intelligence companies aiming to reverse the lack of a strong data culture. One of its high-profile projects in that regard was an electoral data center, allowing Nigerians to track results by state and constituencies during Nigeria’s general elections last year.

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.