Kenyan startup Wowzi raises Kshs. 352M to boost presence in Africa

Kenya’s technology startup has successfully raised Kshs. 352 million ($3.2 million) from 10 investors as it seeks to expand its operations in Africa.

The firm says it has raised Kshs. 220 million ($2 million) in seed round from 4DX Ventures, To.org, Golden Palm Investments, LoftyInc Capital, Afropreneur Angels, and Future Africa. Andela co-founder Christina Sass, Jessica Chervin, Justin Ziegler, and Johnny Falla.

The firm had initially raised Kshs. 132 million ($1.2 million) in pre-seed round bringing the total to $3.2 million, a fund which it says will be used to scale its influencer marketing platform across the African continent enabling users to monetize their social media profiles.

“Now that Wowzi has created the technology platform to efficiently distribute and manage job offers to thousands of youth at a time, brands have an opportunity to engage directly with youth and offer meaningful gig work. Wowzi offers a new layer of advertising for brands that can help target niche communities. This new layer of advertising plays into emerging trends of decentralized social networks, creating creators who think of themselves as media entrepreneurs,” said Brian Mogeni, Wowzi Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer.

According to the firm, its online marketplace democratizes influence, connecting social media users with big brands, enabling nano and micro creators to earn money by spreading brand messages via social media.

Wowzi plans to use the new funding to scale partnerships with local, regional, and multinational FMCG companies, telcos, banks, creative agencies and development institutions to create dignified digital economy jobs for African youth.

”GenZ African creators influence decision purchasing amongst peers through unique online and offline communities, and Wowzi is creating a marketplace that assigns value to creativity. That hasn’t been done before on the African continent at scale. Our mission is to connect capacity to opportunity, and that’s precisely what the platform does for emerging creators. We set an ambitious goal of creating 1 million jobs for African youth, and already this year we’ve delivered nearly 200,000 such paid gigs,” added Wowzi Co-Founder Mike Otieno.

Wowzi says in its first 18 months of operation, Wowzi has on-boarded 70,000 influencers across Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania.

The online platform allows brands of any size or industry to create and manage massive, distributed messaging campaigns utilizing thousands of customers and fans who get paid to offer authentic endorsements online.