Wowzi, a Kenyan technology startup has raised Kshs. 352 million ($3.2 million) from 10 investors as it seeks to expand operations in Africa.
Wowzi is an online platform that allows brands of any size or industry to create and manage massive, distributed messaging campaigns. These brands will be able to use thousands of customers and fans who get paid to offer real online endorsements.
Wowzi Pre-seed and Seed Funding
The Kenyan technology platform had earlier raised Kshs. 132 million ($1.2M) in its pre-seed round before the recent seed round.
After which a total of 10 investors raised Kshs. 220 million ($2M) in the seed round co-led by Golden Palm investors,4Dx ventures, Future Africa, To.org, Afropreneur Angels, Christiana Sass Andela co-founder, LoftyInc Capital, Jessica Chervin, Johnny Falla, and Justin Ziegler.
This brings the total fund to Kshs. 352 million ($3.2M) that will help to level up its influencer marketing platform across Africa. This will enable users to monetize their social media handles.
Wowzi’s Plans of Expansion
The firm plans on using this fund to scale partnerships with multinational FMCG companies, local, regional, telcos, creative agencies, banks, and development sectors. This will create noble digital jobs for African youths.
The Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Wowzi, Brian Mogeni has said;
” We are creating the technological platform to distribute and manage job offers to lots of youth at a time, brands have an opportunity to engage with youth and offer meaningful gig work. Wowzi is offering a new layer of advertisement for brands that can help target niche communities”
Also, he further said;
“This new layer of advertising plays into emerging trends of decentralized social networks. It will create creators who think of themselves as media entrepreneurs,”.
The firm’s online marketplace democratizes influence and is connecting social media users with big brands, allowing nano and micro creators to earn by spreading brand messages using social media.
Wowzi said its first 18 months of operation it has onboarded 70,000 influencers across Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania and is looking to expand the African Continent.
