Wowzi raises $3.2 million to support African creators
Summary
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. Brands are increasingly aligning their marketing strategies to tap into micro and nano content creators looking to monetize their social media accounts, because they get higher engagement with their followers on posts and are more believable messengers than celebrity personalities. Young people only require lightweight remote training to master the key principles of sharing brand messages, so suddenly anyone with a phone can influence their peers through social media. 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.” 4DX Ventures Co-Founder and General Partner Peter Orth said, “We believe that Wowzi has the potential to transform the way advertising is done in Africa and beyond. This bucks the trend of most creator platforms today, where a few celebrity personalities at the top take home the lions share of total earnings, making it impossible for emerging talent to break through.