African Games Publishing Platform, Carry1st, raises $27 million

Carry1st, a South African games publishing startup, has raised $27 million in a funding round led by venture capital firm Bitkraft Ventures with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, TTV Capital, Alumni Ventures, Lateral Capital, Kepple Ventures and Konvoy.

This funding raise comes about a year after it secured $20 million in a Series A extension round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) following the $6 million it raised in May 2021.

Founded in 2018 by Cordel Robbin-Coker, Lucy Hoffman, and Tino Mundangepfupfu, Carry1st is a publisher of social games and interactive content with a focus on frontier markets like Africa.

It provides a full-stack publishing solution, handling user acquisition, live operations, community management, and monetization for its content. Carry1st also provides Pay1st, an embedded monetization engine and distribution channel which supports alternative app-store compliant payment methods, making it possible for customers across Africa to pay for content in their preferred way.

Carry1st says it will use the financing to develop, license, and publish new games as well as further expand Pay1st, the company’s monetization-as-a-service solution.

According to the company in a statement, “this capital raise comes off the back of a successful partnership with Call of Duty: Mobile in South Africa in the fourth quarter 2022, as well as new partnerships to be launched in 2023.”

“We’re delighted to partner with Bitkraft, one of the world’s top gaming venture capital firms, alongside Andreessen Horowitz and other existing investors as we continue on our mission to scale awesome content in Africa,” said CEO Cordel Robbin-Coker. “2022 was a year of significant growth, but together with our partners we look forward to making 2023 even better.”

For example, Carry1st last year signed a partnership with Riot Games to “operate local payments for the company’s games in Africa,” which will be launched this year.

“Africa is home to the largest population of young people in the world, and this upcoming generation will grow up digitally native with videogames as their primary entertainment preference,” said Jens Hilgers, founding general partner at Bitkraft. “We have full conviction in Carry1st’s impressive founding team and their vision of building out foundational infrastructure and localized content, ensuring that gaming and interactive entertainment in Africa will thrive!”

Added Jon Lai, games general partner at Andreessen Horowitz: “We’ve been really impressed by Carry1st’s ability to deliver on our shared vision of building the leading next generation publisher for Africa.”