Carry1st, a mobile game publishing platform aimed at unlocking demand in the African market, has acquired $20 million in investment from notable investors including Andreessen Horowitz, established by web pioneers Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, with participation from Avenir and Google.
Around 1.1 billion people in Africa belong to the Millennial and Generation Z generations, which are early adopters of new technologies. According to mobile research firm App Annie, it is the fastest-growing market for mobile game downloads. As a result, it’s past time for Africa to benefit from the gaming venture capital boom.
According to a survey published by Newzoo and Carry1st in 2021, the number of gamers in Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to grow by 275 percent over the next ten years, resulting in a 728 percent rise in income. Carry1st has positioned itself as a profit-generating conduit for foreign and local mobile gaming businesses.
Carry1st will utilize the additional funds to expand its content offering, expand its product, engineering, and growth teams, and recruit tens of millions of new users, following a month-over-month revenue increase of 96 percent. Carry1st is moving into game co-development, collaborating on innovative concepts with top game developers, and building the infrastructure to allow play-to-earn gaming.
In an interview with GamesBeat, Cordel Robbin-Coker stated, “The No. 1 thing we want to accomplish with the cash is to extend our content portfolio.” “Right now, we’re licensed for seven games.” On the free-to-play side, we’re planning to be quite active in our search for more worldwide successful games.”