iROKO, the African mobile entertainment and internet TV pioneer has announced it has raised US$19 million, both in content development and in capital funding, from multiple deals.
iROKO will channel the investment into local content financing and production – the ambition is to produce at least 300 hours of original content in 2016, with the expectation of doubling that by 2018 – as well as its product and engineering teams in Lagos and New York..
This will enable the company to build on its already extensive catalogue, making it arguably one of the largest libraries of local African content.
CEO and co-founder of iROKO, Jason Njoku says, “With millions more Africans poised to come online via mobile in the coming years, our mission is to lead viewers to content they’ll love.This is something the vast majority of the continent struggles with today,”
He added, “We hope to bridge that divide, and this additional investment supports such a plan. For us, there is no version of reality where the marriage between Africa’s most powerful communication tool [mobile] and the most prolific and loved entertainment provider [Nollywood] won’t be a joyous union.”
CFO of Canal+ Overseas says, “We congratulate Jason and all the iROKO team and investors for their outstanding achievement so far and we are proud to partner for the scale-up in French-Speaking Africa, with clear ambitions and the means to reach them.”
The announcement also sees Jacques du Puy, President of Canal+ Overseas, join the iROKO board.
The funds was raised from French media giant CANAL+ together with existing investor Kinnevik AB, in addition to iROKO’s own cash flow to give the leading African tech & entertainment company the platform to scale its operations and expand aggressively across the continent.
iROKO has previously raised US$25m from international investors, including Tiger Global, Kinnevik and RISE Capital.
The technology and entertainment company is a leading Nollywood film, TV, content producer and platform provider and currently has a mobile app for Africa, holds distribution deals with Canal+, BA, Emirates, Nollywood TV and Lebara and has two Linear TV channels on Africa’s Star Times.
This investment couldn’t have come at a better time considering the recent availability of Netflix in Nigeria and other African countries, which has led some proponents to spell doom for the fast-rising tech startup.
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