Andreessen Horowitz makes first Africa investment

Africa’s biggest mobile games publisher, Cape Town-based Carry1st, has raised US$20-million (R304-million) in a series-A “extension” round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Avenir and Google.

The round represents Andreessen Horowitz’s first investment in a company headquartered in Africa, and partners David Haber (fintech) and Jonathan Lai (gaming) will join Carry1st’s board as “observers”.

Founded by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, the storied Silicon Valley-based Andreessen Horowitz is one of the biggest venture capital investors in the technology sector worldwide.

Carry1st is a major publisher of social games and interactive content across Africa. The company has released games such as “Mine Rescue” and “SpongeBob: Krusty Cook-Off”.

The company will use the additional capital to expand its content portfolio, grow its product, engineering, growth teams, and acquire tens of millions of new users, it said.

“We’re excited to partner with this world-class group of investors who, in addition to capital, will bring in expertise across gaming, fintech and Web3,” said co-founder cand CEO Cordel Robbin-Coker in a statement.

Carry1st said Africa is the next major growth market, driven by technology adoption among the continent’s 1.1 billion millennials and Gen-Zers.

Growth

A report released in 2021 from Newzoo and Carry1st showed that the number of gamers will increase by 275% over the next 10 years, leading to a 728% increase in market size measured by sales.

Carry1st has positioned itself to be the conduit for international and local mobile game companies to serve these consumers.

The company’s founders are Robbin-Coker (CEO), Lucy Hoffman (chief operating officer) and Tinotenda Mundangepfupfu (chief technology officer). It employs 37 people in 18 countries, including mobile gaming veterans from Rovio, Socialpoint, Ubisoft and Wargaming.  – © 2022 NewsCentral Media