Rapper Nas Joins Andreessen Horowitz In Africa Gaming Investment

Rapper Nas has joined US private equity firm Andreessen Horowitz and Alphabet Inc.’s Google in an investment round for Africa-focused mobile gaming platform – Carry1st.

Carry1st, a South African publisher of social games and interactive content across Africa, has raised $20 million Series A from the investors.

The startup, launched by Cordel Robbin-Coker, Lucy Hoffman and Tinotenda Mundangepfupfu in 2018, also received investments from Avenir and the founders of Chipper Cash, Sky Mavis and Yield Guild Games, took part.

It wants to use this additional capital to scale interactive content across Africa, build the workforce and acquire new users. The startup will also partner with studios to develop new concepts and build infrastructure for play-to-earn gaming, according to reports.

The team currently has a team of 37 people across 18 countries.

The company initially started as a game studio where it conceptualized, developed, and launched mobile games but over time, it switched to a hybrid model, adopting a publishing role and handling distribution, marketing and operations.

“When we think about Carry1st, we want to be the leading consumer internet company in the region. And we think that the best kind of wedge would be able to do that is a combination of gaming and micropayments and online commerce,” its CEO told TechCrunch.

“These industries are being pretty significantly disrupted or augmented with web3 and crypto. And as more gaming content starts to integrate with NFTs and cryptocurrencies, we think there’s a really big opportunity to partner with those studios the same way we partner with free-to-play studios,” he added.