South African mobile gaming startup, Carry1st, has closed a $20,000,000 Series A extension round.
Andreessen Horowitz — a16z, making its first investment in an Africa-headquartered company, led the round for Carry1st. Avenir, Google, as well as angel investors like Grammy winner and renowned crypto investor Nas, the founders of Chipper Cash, Sky Mavis, and Yield Guild Games also took part in the round.
The round — which is an extension of Carry1st Series A raised in May 2021 — also included investors such as Riot Games, Konvoy Ventures, Raine Ventures and TTV Capital, who participated last year and would enable Carry1st to scale operations beyond its current reach, further into the African continent.
Having recently launched a proprietary payment and online marketplace to better monetise content, Cape Town-based Carry1st was founded in 2018 as a mobile games publisher. The company has so far raised a total funding amount of $27,700,000. The company has reached millions of users across the region with its captivating games such as Mine Rescue and SpongeBob: Krusty Cook-Off since inception.
With monthly revenue growth of 96%, Carry1st will leverage the current investment for the expansion of its content portfolio; grow its product, engineering, and growth teams; and acquire tens of millions of new users.
The company also seeks to expand into game co-development, working with leading game studios on original concepts, and developing the infrastructure to support play-to-earn gaming.
“We’re excited to partner with this world-class group of investors who, in addition to capital, bring expertise across gaming, fintech, and web3,” said Cordel Robbin-Coker, co-founder and CEO of Carry1st.
“In 2021 we launched multiple games and digital commerce solutions achieving really strong growth. Together we can accelerate this growth and achieve our goal of becoming the leading consumer internet company in the region.”
David Haber, general partner, Andreessen Horowitz said he was delighted to be making the firm’s first investment in an Africa-headquartered company in Carry1st.
“We see immense opportunity for the company to mirror outstanding successes we’ve seen in markets like India, China, and Southeast Asia. We couldn’t be more thrilled to partner with founders Cordel, Lucy, Tino, and the Carry1st team on their mission to build the Garena of Africa.”
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