SANTA MONICA, Calif., Dec. 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, StarNews Mobile, Africa’s fastest-growing mobile content platform, announced it has received its initial investment funding by Investors & Partners (I&P), a pioneering impact investment group entirely dedicated to start ups and medium-sized enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa and Expert DOJO, an international accelerator based in Santa Monica, Calif.
StarNews completed its first investment campaign with I&P, and more specifically, the I&P Afrique Entrepreneurs 2 (IPAE2) fund. The IPAE2 launched at the end of 2017 to support the emergence of a new generation of responsible African businesses. StarNews was selected by IPAE2 investors due to its unique and relevant position in a booming content market and for its strong impact to promote African talents.
“We are proud to support a talented and experienced African entrepreneur who demonstrates a real commitment to deploy a pan-African solution and innovation,” stated I&P investment manager Nouss Bih. “We share StarNews’s ambition to promote African artists and produce a greater diversity of quality local content, with high added value for end users.”
The sentiment is shared by Brian Mac Mahon, founder of Expert DOJO, a pre-seed startup accelerator. Expert DOJO improves the success rate of early-stage entrepreneurs supporting them with investment and aiding the development of their foundation, influence, community, branding, marketing, communication and mindset.
“When it came to StarNews' value proposition, strong local partnerships in Africa and their focus on customer satisfaction there was no investment decision to make,” stated Mac Mahon. “If we could have, we would have invested more and since that time we have been more and more impressed with how the company has over delivered on every milestone and investor promise. This is one of the companies that we are proudest to have in our portfolio and expect great things over the next two years. Founder, Guy Kamgaing, is destined for greatness."
StarNews launched in the Ivory Coast in 2017. The company positions itself in Africa’s mobile video market which holds massive potential to reach its 400M and growing user base of underserved fans and undiscovered talent. StarNews, is an opportunity for any content creator to target hard to reach audiences and create a sustainable new income source by connecting brands and celebrities with millions of young, eager fans across the continent. The StarNews network provides a springboard and a spotlight for new and emerging content creators from Africa and around the world.
StarNews is founded by Guy Kamgaing, a Cameroonian entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in the mobile telecom industry. Kamgaing realized that the African mobile market is now one of the fastest growing in the world; however, a large majority of African consumers do not have access to relevant video content due to a lack in services tailored to local markets.
"Despite the generalization of smartphones and increasing access on the mobile internet, value-added service offers are not very ‘Africanized’ and even when it is, the content is sourced only from international players,” states Kamgaing. “It was necessary to highlight this rich and original local content and allow its players to monetize it like it should be. Hence the idea of a distribution platform deployed in partnership with mobile operators."
Today, StarNews is available in the Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Congo and South Africa and will be launching in Nigeria, Senegal and other countries. StarNews has established partnerships with large pan-African mobile operators such as MTN, Orange and MOOV in order to distribute exclusive and quality video content directly to users.
To learn more about StarNews Mobile, please visit: https://www.starnewsmobile.com/.
About Investors & Partners
Investors & Partners (I&P) is a pioneer group of impact investing in Africa, entirely dedicated to financing and supporting start-ups and small and medium-sized companies in Sub-Saharan Africa. Created in 2002 by Patrice Hoppenot and directed by Jean-Michel Severino since 2011, the group has around 90 experienced and committed employees, based in 8 African offices (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Niger and Senegal), Paris and Washington D.C. I & P has supported more than 120 SMEs in around fifteen African countries, providing them with long-term funding as well as strategic, managerial and technical support. As an actor of impact investing, I & amp; P's mission is to maximize the societal impact of its partner companies, and contribute to dynamic and inclusive growth in Africa.
About Expert DOJO
Expert DOJO improves the success rate of early-stage entrepreneurs with investment, foundation, influence, community, branding, marketing, communication, mindset. Based in Santa Monica, Expert DOJO is the fastest growing start-up community in Southern California. Entrepreneurs love Expert DOJO and the power of our startup community. All entrepreneurs in our programs have agreed to support the whole community as we get stronger together.
About StarNews Mobile
StarNews is a network of mobile video channels that allows celebrities and brands to monetize their fan bases in Africa, the world’s fastest growing mobile market. StarNews works with popular local and international stars in South Africa and The Ivory Coast to create exclusive and addictive short videos that fans are eager to pay for. Thanks to strong distribution and marketing partnerships with pan-African mobile operators such as MTN, Orange and MOOV and seamless monetization through micro-payments, StarNews has built a service that excels in its simplicity, affordability and content appeal.
Media Contact:
Nadia Haidar
Red Rooster PR
nadia@redroosterpr.com
+1-949-734-0688