Carry1st

Carry1st

Africa-focused mobile games publisher & fintech

Overview

Carry1st publishes mobile games in Africa and provides a full-stack publishing service for global and local developers, covering distribution, localization, user acquisition, marketing, community management, and monetization. It built Pay1st, a fintech platform that supports 200+ local payment methods to enable in-app purchases for users without credit cards. Beyond publishing, Carry1st operates the Carry1st Shop, a digital marketplace for gaming gift cards, airtime, data, and electricity vouchers, turning it into a broader digital commerce hub. By partnering with major publishers like Activision, Riot Games, and Supercell, Carry1st aims to grow the African mobile-gaming market by making publishing, payments, and digital content accessible and scalable for both global and local developers.

About Carry1st

Simplify's Rating
Why Carry1st is rated
B-
Rated B on Competitive Edge
Rated B on Growth Potential
Rated C on Differentiation

Industries

Consumer Software

Fintech

Entertainment

Company Size

51-200

Company Stage

Early VC

Total Funding

$57M

Headquarters

Cape Town, South Africa

Founded

2018

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Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • Carry1st launched WhatsApp Shop on June 5, 2026, widening checkout access.
  • Africa Cup 2026 runs September 5-6 in Abuja with a $30,000 prize pool.
  • Carry1st blog updated August 13, 2026, signaling active distribution, commerce, and esports expansion.

What critics are saying

  • Activision controls Call of Duty: Mobile; one partnership loss breaks Carry1st Africa Cup economics.
  • Pay1st depends on fragmented regulators, mobile-money rails, and payout failures across African markets.
  • Africa-only monetization traps Carry1st in slower-spending regions; anemic ARPU blocks breakout profitability.

What makes Carry1st unique

  • Pay1st integrates 200+ African payment methods, including mobile money, for in-app monetization.
  • Carry1st owns Africa Cup 2026, the continent’s official Call of Duty: Mobile qualifier.
  • Its WhatsApp Shop launched June 2026, selling vouchers inside chat in Nigeria and South Africa.

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Funding

Total Funding

$57M

Above

Industry Average

Funded Over

5 Rounds

Notable Investors:
Early VC funding comparison data is currently unavailable. We're working to provide this information soon!
Early VC Funding Comparison
Coming Soon

Growth & Insights and Company News

Headcount

6 month growth

-1%

1 year growth

1%

2 year growth

6%
TechCabal
Aug 10th, 2026
Carry1st Africa Cup 2026 Grand Finals Set for Abuja This September, Featuring Africa's Largest Mobile Esports Prize Pool

Carry1st Africa Cup 2026 Grand Finals Set for Abuja This September, Featuring Africa's Largest Mobile Esports Prize Pool. Quick Links * Partner Carry1st Africa Cup 2026 Grand Finals Set for Abuja This September, Featuring Africa's Largest Mobile Esports Prize Pool By Partner 10th Aug, 2026 Get TC updates in your Newsfeed Share Five Regions. Eight Teams. Two LAN Finals. One Grand Stage in Abuja. Africa's biggest mobile eSports tournament crowns its 2026 champion at a live Grand Finals event in Abuja, with the winning team advancing to the Call of Duty(R): Mobile World Championship. Carry1st, in partnership with Call of Duty: Mobile, recently announced that the Grand Finals of the Carry1st Africa Cup 2026 will take place September 5-6 at the Los Angeles Event Centre in Abuja, Nigeria, capping off the continent's premier mobile esports tournament and the official African Qualifier for the Call of Duty: Mobile World Championship. Now in its third year, the Carry1st Africa Cup has grown from a first-of-its-kind event in 2024 into one of the largest mobile gaming tournaments on the continent. This year, the tournament is aiming to become the largest Sub-Saharan African mobile esports gathering to date. The Road to Abuja Regional Qualifiers have been underway since June. Winning teams from each region will advance to compete live at the Grand Finals in Abuja on September 5-6, where the overall champion will be crowned and earn the right to represent Africa at the Call of Duty: Mobile World Championship. Grand Finals tickets are set to go live in August, giving fans across Nigeria and the wider continent the chance to be part of the live event in person. The Carry1st Africa Cup 2026 underscores the rapid growth of competitive gaming across Africa, where a digitally connected generation is redefining what it means to compete on the global stage. With LAN events bringing fans and players together in person, and online regionals ensuring accessibility across the continent, the tournament is built to be as wide as Africa itself - and as fierce as its talent. About the Carry1st Africa Cup The Carry1st Africa Cup is the premier mobile eSports tournament on the continent and the official African qualifier for the Call of Duty: Mobile World Championship. Since launching in 2024, the tournament has grown into a landmark event for African esports, combining competitive mobile gaming with premium content - including a docuseries and a bi-weekly esports podcast to build a lasting cultural moment for gaming across Africa. About Carry1st Carry1st is Africa's leading publisher of games and digital content. Its mission is to scale awesome content in frontier markets by solving hard problems. Carry1st develops, licenses, and publishes games and monetizes them effectively with Pay1st, a proprietary payments and online marketplace, and the Carry1st Shop, to better monetize content in the region. The company has scaled games such as Call of Duty(R): Mobile. Founded in 2018, the company is backed by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), BITKRAFT, and Google. Twitter: @carry1st | Instagram: @carry1st | TikTok: @carry1st | YouTube: @carry1st For Media Inquiries Carry1st: [email protected] More from this Author * Government Lagos wants its innovation ecosystem to become a global leader * Events TechCabal and Moniepoint partner to discuss how tech is changing the informal economy * Events ARM collaborates with TechCabal on the Future of Commerce partnership pitch session Partner From Project Delivery to Digital Modernization Systems: The Story of Avoseh Nunayon Richard and the Framework Advancing Data-Driven Transformation Partner | 3 hours ago

TechSpace Africa
May 5th, 2025
Carry1st Africa Cup 2025 Launches with Call of Duty(R): Mobile, Offers Path to $1M World Championship

In a further push for pan-African inclusion, Carry1st has introduced a Wildcard Slot, opening the door for emerging teams from countries like Mauritius and Tunisia to compete.

VentureBeat
May 3rd, 2025
Carry1st brings Call of Duty: Mobile tournament to Africa as championship qualifier

Carry1st, Africa's mobile game publisher, announced the return of its flagship Call of Duty: Mobile tournament as part of the Carry1st Africa Cup 2025.

Esports Insider
Mar 26th, 2025
Carry1st announces African MLBB event for female players

South African game publisher Carry1st has announced it will host an all-female Mobile Legends: Bang Bang event in Cairo, Egypt.

TechLabari
Mar 25th, 2025
Carry1st Launches Africa's First E-Sports MLBB Women's Invitational

Carry1st, Africa's leading games publisher, is launching an all-female Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) tournament at Insomnia in Cairo, Egypt.

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