Nas and Google Invest Millions Into South African Mobile Game Publisher

Nas has added a gaming company to his ever-expanding investment portfolio.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the hip-hop mogul has teamed up with Google and others to raise a $20 million financial backing for Carry1st—a mobile game published based in Cape Town, South Africa. Other investors include Riot Games, Sky Mavis, Yield Guild Games, Chipper Cash, and Andreessen Horowitz Invest.

Carry1st, which recently published Tilting Point’s SpongeBob: Krusty Cook-Off, says it will use the additional funds to expand its content, staff, and user base. The company also intends to connect with different studios to build “the infrastructure to support play-to-earn gaming.”

“We’re excited to partner with this world-class group of investors who, in addition to capital, bring expertise across gaming, fintech, and web3,” Carry1st co-founder and CEO Cordel Robbin-Coker said in a statement to THR. “In 2021, we launched multiple games and digital commerce solutions achieving really strong growth. Together we can accelerate this growth and achieve our goal of becoming the leading consumer internet company in the region.”

Robbin-Corker founded Carry1st in 2018 along with COO Lucy Hoffman and chief technology officer Tinotenda Mundangepfupfu. The company currently employs 37 people in a 18 different countries, and has reportedly raised nearly $30 million since its inception.

Nas has made a slew of investments under his venture capital firm, Queensbridge Venture Partners—supporting companies like SeatGeek, PlutoTV, Dropbox, and RobinHood.

“When I heard the word ‘investment’ in school, I was hooked,” the rapper told FastCompany in 2014. “You invest your time, you can invest money and it was just a matter of time before it all fell into place for me. That’s one of the things that I thought a lot about as a young kid—the guys behind the scenes who make things happen, help build people up, make dreams come true.”