Africa’s Web3 Game Developer Secures $27M Funding
Carry1st, an African Web3 gaming startup, has completed a $27 million funding round backed by venture capitalists Andreessen Horowitz, Bitkraft Ventures, and others. The funding aims to accelerate the continent’s Web3 adoption, which the VCs believe is long overdue, and to boost Carry1st’s digital content development.
Funding Africa’s Web3 Gaming Ecosystem
Bitkraft Ventures lead Carry1st’s latest funding round. Other participants include Andreessen Horowitz, Konvoy, Lateral Capital, TTV Capital, Alumni Ventures, and Kepple Ventures.
The funding came just a year after the Web3 gaming startup secured $20 million in a financing round backed by a16z and Alphabet, Google’s parent company. At the time of the previous funding, Carry1st stated that the funds would help it expand its internal capacity and boost its content portfolio.
Carry1st intends to increase its play-to-earn gaming and integrate NFTs into its gaming experience. A spokesperson for the firm explained that Carry1st would utilize the latest funds to boost the capabilities of its monetization-as-a-service platform, Pay1st.
Third-party game publishers in Africa leverage Pay1st’s platform to increase their revenue generation. As a game developer, Carry1st also provides full-stack services for the monetization of mobile games and also manages the African gaming ecosystem.
Last year, the firm partnered with Riot Games, the Los Angeles-based game publisher, to test the local payment platforms for its gaming projects in Africa. Africa is increasingly becoming one of the fastest-growing virtual asset markets globally.
So far, the region’s foray into digital assets has attracted the attention of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The global financial body is critical of the high crypto adoption rate in the continent after its November 2022 report, which highlighted the growing crypto use in countries like Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa.
The IMF, citing on-chain data from Chainalysis, noted that the region’s crypto transactions reached $20 billion monthly in 2021.
Web3 Adoption In Africa
Due to the government’s massive mismanagement of the economy and the absence of inclusive banking systems to cater to the rural population, cryptocurrency has become an alternative currency.
Young people opt for crypto payment systems using BTC and other stablecoins like USDT for their transactions. Asked about the potential of Web3 adoption in Africa, the spokesperson at Carry1st noted that the continent is highly appreciative of gaming.
However, the spokesperson added that mobile technology would help democratize access to numerous games. The executive stressed that games are now the main form of media appreciation worldwide and that Africans are not fundamentally unique from others.
As a result, the region will catch up with others as the demand for social connection and fun using mobile technology continues to expand. Experts believe mobile game adoption has been on the rise in Africa, driven by the region’s young demographics, increased smartphone penetration, and rising incomes.
Analysts are still hopeful of the continent’s rapid adoption of Web3 in the years to come.
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