Cordel Robbin-Coker, Lucy Hoffman, and Tinotenda Mundangepfupfu started Carry1st in 2018 to publish mobile games and interactive content for Africans. One of their games, Carry1st Trivia, got a lot of buzz in 2020 with about one and a half million downloads.In the three years since its launch, Carry1st has also become a medium for bringing mobile gaming from global companies to Africa. The Cape Town-based company realised that developers have had problems with distribution and payments in Africa. They decided to solve that by embedding a fintech solution, Pay1st, on their platform. Pay1st features popular payment methods from six African countries, giving African gamers on Carry1st the ability to pay how they want.The result is a company that is a publishing platform for games but also a full-stack management solution for game developers seeking user acquisition, marketing and monetization in Africa.“In 2020, we were able to successfully sign 7 great titles, recruit a top-notch international team, and build out our payments and digital commerce platform,” Robbin-Coker, CEO of Carry1st, said in a statement.Right to Left: Cordel Robbin-Coker, Lucy Hoffman, and Tinotenda Mundangepfupfu, Carry1st co-founders. Image source: Carry1st.Now the startup is positioned to take advantage of the stability and opportunity they have found. They have announced the close of a $6 million Series A round led by Konvoy Ventures, an early-stage VC firm based in the US State of Colorado. Carry1st joins a list of other gaming companies on Konvoy’s portfolio.Jackson Vaughan, Managing Partner at Konvoy Ventures, joins Carry1st’s board as a result of the investment. He said Carry1st’s advantage is in “approaching sub-regions with contextual understanding.”Other investors in the round include Riot Games (the company behind ‘League of Legends’), Raine Ventures, AET Fund / Akatsuki and TTV Capital.

Source: Techcabal