Sony is Investing $10m in Music, Film, Gaming Startups Across Africa

Being at the intersection of  Tech and Music gives me a first-hand understanding of the dearth of such opportunities available for Music/Entertainment companies. So, it makes this development from Sony particularly exciting.

Sony is launching the Sony Innovation Fund (SIF: AF) program aimed at supporting the growth of creative businesses in Africa. With a fund worth $10 million, the program will focus on empowering early-stage startups in Gaming, Music, Film, and Content Distribution.

This is great development because, in Africa, Fintech has been the most heavily funded sector, attracting nearly half of the venture capital coming into the continent. While other sectors such as Healthcare, Mobility, Food are gaining momentum, the entertainment industry has, unfortunately, been largely overlooked.

According to Gen Tsuchikawa, CEO of Sony Ventures, “The entertainment field has been a key area of focus for Sony Innovation Fund since the beginning and will continue to be. Africa, in particular, has a vibrant community of creators and entrepreneurs looking to invent new ways to enhance entertainment experiences for audiences and that propelled Sony to establish SIF: AF,”

“We are exploring investments in these areas because we see great potential and exciting creativity from the creators, entrepreneurs, and teams in Africa, and we want to support that. There is also growing adoption of technology overall in these areas, which we are excited about,” Tsuchikawa added.

“Since Sony’s entertainment business group is exploring and supporting young talented creators in Africa, this fund will also try to support those creators and the growth of entertainment business in Africa in various ways such as providing technologies, collaborating with creators, intellectual property, and contents, marketing support, and others which Sony can contribute.”

Sony Innovation Fund: Africa expects its ticket sizes to range from $250,000 to $1 million. “We have initiated due diligence on a few startups, but I can’t share any details at this time,”

“We plan to start our work with South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, and Ghana, but there is a possibility of expanding the scope of the project in the future.”

According to Tsuchikawa, the initial support for the fund will come from the Sony Ventures team in Europe. However, the company is looking to recruit a dedicated member to be based on the continent. This individual will be responsible for the venture capital sourcing function.