Carry1st, a mobile game publisher based in South Africa, has announced raising $27 million in a pre-Series B round. The investment round saw participation from companies such as Andreessen Horowitz, Bitkraft Ventures, Konvoy, TTV Capital, Alumni Ventures, Lateral Capital Ventures, and Kepple Africa Ventures.
The company had already raised $20 million a year ago with investments from A16z and Google. Carry1st has already published many titles, including SpongeBob: Krusty Cook-off, Mine Rescue, Gebeta, and Match League.
One of the game publisher’s most recent updates saw a partnership with Call of Duty: Mobile several months ago to bring the game to South Africa. In a blog post, Konvoy Ventures’ Co-Founder, Jackson Vaughan, commented on the game industry’s potential in Africa and how Carry1st plays a key role:
“Carry1st is building financial infrastructure to connect the various payment systems across Africa and open up the market to game studios and other publishers that want to release games in the region. Carry1st is solving for the biggest bottlenecks in the region: accessibility and distribution.
“Beyond distribution and the infrastructure technology that enables it, Carry1st is approaching publishing with local context. The team knows that understanding the end consumer and servicing their unique needs is the only way to win; they spend considerable effort on selectively finding games, localization, and testing in their target regions.”
Carry1st aims to further its efforts in enabling game studios and other publishers to release and monetize games in the region. The company has partnerships with big names in gaming, such as Activision, Riot Games, and CrazyLabs, and currently consists of more than 75 team members.
