The Lagos-based company said in an official statement it “is set to fill the vacuum that currently exists in the country’s angel investment ($30,000 to 75,000 funding level) eco-system.”

Managing Partner of SPARK, Jason Njoku says: “In Africa, we’re witnessing an exciting metamorphosis, from a tech ‘scene’ to a tech ‘revolution’, where Lagos is very much the gateway for the entire continent. The creativity, talent, the spirit of entrepreneurship is here but Nigeria’s business eco system isn’t set up to adequately support start-ups in their earliest days. Our intention with SPARK is to act as the catalyst to a period of aggressive and exciting growth in Africa’s Internet sector.”

The move comes amidst significant disruption in the Nigerian Internet scene; fast becoming one of the country’s most prolific and exciting sectors, many entrepreneurs struggle to make the transition from idea to business, due to prohibitive start-up costs, a lack of on-the-ground angel investment opportunities, a lack of access to trusted mentorship and business bureaucracy.

SPARK-funded companies, managed by Jason Njoku, Bastian Gotter and Mary Remmy-Njoku, share the same administrative infrastructure, legal teams, mentors and marketing support, making the companies capital-efficient.

SPARK concentrates on well defined and scalable revenue models and has, to-date, seed funded or created 13 start-ups to the sum of $35-75,000 each.

These companies include a hotel room booking site, a Christian dating site and a property-letting site. Companies in the SPARK network currently employ 80 people and by the close of 2013, SPARK expects to have created or funded 20 companies in total.

Economic growth is currently 7% per annum in Nigeria. The current value of the Nigerian Internet sector today is estimated at $250m and by 2016 it will be close to $1bn. Nigeria is a seen as a ‘frontier market’ with a population keen to access new consumer items, both in stores and, increasingly, online. However there are few Internet companies that have the backing or ability to supply the ever-increasing demand.

Bastian Gotter, Managing Partner of SPARK says: “The incubation period for any start-up is critical and we found that this is where Nigeria’s business infrastructure struggles most. We fund our companies, provide them with the back room assistance they need to get started and advise them on all aspects of their business. SPARK is the financial, intellectual and pragmatic engine that will propel Nigeria’s Internet entrepreneurs from start-ups to dynamic businesses that generate jobs and income for the region.”

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The news comes on the heels of the gamer’s launch of its redesigned site KULUYA 2.0, where users will be able to challenge other players to play, make bets, and make money through competitive cash games.

Kunle Ogungbamila, Head of KULUYA said: “We have grown the company to a $2 million valuation in six months. Our goal is to become one of the most successful media companies in Africa, and with today’s news, I see this as being totally achievable”.

“The African narrative is what fuels KULUYA-developed games and it has proved popular with gamers at home and abroad. KULUYA 2.0, launching this week, sees a shift from advertising play to a hybrid commerce platform and takes African gaming to the next level.

My Oga @ the Top, an online game recently released by KULUYA was played 60,000 times within the first 72 hours.

Commenting on the development, KULUYA Chairman Jason Njoku said: “Today, the African gaming space has a credible benchmark for how value should be attributed to this industry. This $2 million valuation is an exciting and critical turning point in KULUYA’s incredibly short history and I’m very proud of the super-talented team who’ve worked tirelessly to get the company to this stage in only six months since launch.”

Njoku, a celebrated Nigerian entrepreneur and founder of iROKOtv, stated in his blog that KULUYA is his first angel investment. “I even happily helped organise and syndicate their $250,000 angel round,” he added.

Launched in October 2012, KULUYA develops cross-platform games with African characters as the focus. Since inception, the company has developed and launched 55 casual games and five mobile games.

The post Nigerian Gaming Company KULUYA Valued At $2m appeared first on Ventures Africa | .

The company which is headed by an animation maestro Chris Okonkwo and an economist Lakunle Ogungbamila, raised $250,000 from venture capitalists in the West, to launch last month.

According to Nigeria Tech site Techloy, Lakunle said: “At present the African gaming industry consist mainly of some development companies in South Africa. Their games are majorly developed for western consumptions. The themes and gameplay are majorly western. We intend to develop primarily for the African market. The African demographic is majorly being ignored when it comes to games.”

He also added: “African experiences are unique and I believe we can start talking about them through games. Once we start showing the possibilities and size of the market, I believe developers will show interest.”

The Kuluya team claims it has produced over 100 afrocentric games. At the moment, the company has released an online game Monkey Run on its website, to sample consumer reaction and expectation.

Image via Techloy

The post Nigerian Gaming Company Raises $250k Via Venture Capital Investment appeared first on Ventures Africa | .

 

Foreign investors take front seats to witness the regions best of the best in mobile applications and start-ups.

VENTURES AFRICA – The two day annual East Africa mobile start-up challenge dubbed Pivot East came to a close last night with a colorful gala dinner where a mobile racing game set on the busy Nairobi highways was declared overall winner.

The racing game dubbed Ma3racer by Planet Rackus beat 24 other mobile innovations from across the region to walk away with the coveted title.

Users of Ma3racer choose which Ma3 (matatu) they want to drive in the streets of Nairobi and try to tackle the many obstacles they face such as pedestrians crossings, stationery vehicles and vehicles being driven on the wrong side of the road. The end goal for users is to collect as much money bags as possible. As of September last year, Ma3racer had been downloaded 280,000 times in 169 countries.

Ma3Racer is the first in a series of games created by Planet Rackus, a collaboration of likeminded individuals who have a shared passion and vision for telling Kenyan, East African and Pan-African stories through a sustainable digital entertainment framework.

Other winners in the competition included SchoolBursar , a mobile application that streamlines the process of receiving and managing payments through M-Pesa, which walked away with the overall prize in the Financial Services Category. SchoolBursar performs real-time analysis and generation of reports for each student, sends reminders to parents and guardians who have fee deficits and alerts the administrator and principals of the same.

In the Business and Resource Management Category, EasyOrder developed by Afro Cyber Inc Solutions from Uganda emerged tops. The SMS based mobile ordering and supply chain management application simplifies the way customers order for goods from manufacturers and distributors.

Mprep, an sms study solution for students, teachers and schools won in the Mobile Society Category. The application quizzes students on topics they have learned in class and provides feedback on their strengths and weaknesses. So far , more than 4,000 students in 85 schools across Kenya use the platform.

MafutaGo, a mobile and web application that helps users find the petrol station that best suits their needs emerged top in the Utilities Category. The application developed by a Ugandan team displays a petrol stations location, the services the station offers and special offers the station may have for its clients.

The organizers of the regional mobile apps / developer competition seek to bring focus on the mobile developer and entrepreneur community in East Africa. Other than pitching sessions, key industry stakeholders like Safaricom CEO Bob Collyomore, Kenya’s Vision 2030 Director General Mugo Kibati, Kenya ICT Board Chief Executive Paul Kukubo and the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Communication Dr. Bitange Ndemo took part in fireside chats that dealt with various topics ranging from opportunities in entrepreneurship, challenges in financing and the role of corporates in stimulating innovation.

“The quality of pitches has improved as compared to last years competition. Everyone was polished and had their financials in order . Those are the little things that impress investors who may or may not be putting their money in these start ups. The end goal is not to win the competition. The end goal is much bigger,” said Erik Hersman Director of Operations and Strategy, shahidi.

The competition has created interest in the regions technology sector with more investors and ventures capital funds trickling in. The organisers have indicated that next years competition will be held either in Kigali , Dar es Salaam or Kampala.

The competition was organized by the m:lab East Africa, a consortium of four organizations aiming to be a leader in identifying, nurturing and helping to build sustainable enterprises in the knowledge economy.

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