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Carry1st funding, valuation and investors
Africa-focused mobile games publisher and Pay1st payments marketplace.
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Funding, valuation & investors
Answer-first snapshotLatest funding
Growth
$27M · 2023
Latest known valuation
Not publicly disclosed
Total disclosed equity funding
$27M
Excludes debt, grants, acquisitions, secondaries, and IPO proceeds.
Current status
private
series b · Cape Town, South Africa
Overview
Carry1st is a Cape Town-based mobile games publisher and payments company operating across Africa. It publishes and localizes mobile games for African audiences and runs Pay1st, a payments marketplace helping digital merchants accept local payment methods. The company raised a $27M round in 2023 led by Bitkraft with Andreessen Horowitz, Konvoy Ventures, and Riot Games participating, building on earlier a16z backing. Carry1st addresses fragmentation in African mobile payments and game distribution.
Why Carry1st is interesting
Bridges global game IP to African distribution with localized payments — Riot and a16z backed multiple rounds for continent-scale mobile commerce.
Product & use cases
Mobile game publishing for Africa plus Pay1st payments infrastructure — local payment rails for digital commerce and in-game monetization.
- Publishing international mobile games in African markets
- Local payment method aggregation for digital merchants
- In-app purchase optimization across fragmented African payment landscape
Key facts
- $27M round (2023): Bitkraft led; a16z, Riot Games, Konvoy participated
- Pay1st payments marketplace + game publishing
- Co-investors not in VCT: Bitkraft, Konvoy, Riot Games
Funding history (newest first)
Growth
2023 $27M- Bitkraft (lead)
- Andreessen Horowitz (participant)
Source: https://www.carry1st.com/
Investors in our directory
Funds linked from Carry1st's profile — open a fund page for stage focus and related deal articles.
Competitive landscape
Edge: Combined publishing + payments stack for Africa vs. publishers without local payment depth.
Africa mobile gaming growing with payment fragmentation as key bottleneck. Carry1st's dual model addresses both content and monetization. Strategic investors (Riot, a16z) validate long-term market build.
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Sea / regional publishers adjacent
Other emerging market mobile publishers.
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Flutterwave / Paystack adjacent
African payment rails; less game-publishing integrated.
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Direct app store distribution incumbent
Google Play default; Carry1st adds localization and payments.
Notable stories
- Riot Games investment signals strategic interest in African mobile gaming distribution.
- Carry1st built Pay1st after experiencing payment friction publishing games across African markets.
Industries
Related funding articles
Venture Capital Tracker pieces that cover Carry1st's financing or category context.
FAQs about Carry1st
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