Our member Mdundo, a platform providing Africa with easy and affordable access of music has recorded a 27% growth in monthly active users to reach 6.4m users up from 5 million in June 2020 which is also a 144% growth compared to September 2019.
Breaking the news in its first quarterly report the startup suggests positive developments in active users’ growth which is in line with its plan to reach 9m monthly active user target in June 2021 and 18m in 2022.
The growth is significant in both East, West and Southern Africa, which supports Mdundo’s mission to be the primary pan-African music platform.
During the same period, Mdundo was able to reach the 500m internet subscribers in Africa. The two regions with the strongest growth was Mdundo’s stronghold region, Eastern Africa (37%), as well as Western Africa (24%), where Mdundo is rapidly expanding.
The growth is a result of the growing content offering for all regions as well as a strong focus on Search Engine Optimisation and continuously product-improvements with focus on speed and usability relevant for the African user.
In September, the company listed its shares on the Nasdaq First North Growth Market Denmark following an oversubscribed pre-sale period that raised DKK40 million (US$6.4 million), in a bid to solidify its leading position in the pan-African music market.
During the quarter, Mdundo’s sales team in Kenya closed B2B advertisement deals with global and pan-African brands like Safaricom, Standard Chartered, Nivea, Oxfam and Serengeti. The company was also able to close the first significant B2B direct advertisement deal outside East Africa with the telecommunication company 9mobile in Nigeria.
The company also launched an improved version of their app in July following temporary removal from Playstore in May and June.
The release had a focus on improved navigation and customer experience concentrating on the current most popular features relevant for the African user.
As a result, the average Google Playstore Ranking increased from 3.99 of 5 stars in the last financial year to 4.26 of 5 in the first quarter of this financial year
The Company’s financial expectations, revenue and EBITDA, for the financial year 2020/21 are also unchanged including 150% growth in Revenue from 2019/20. The financial expectations are unaffected by the COVID19 pandemic.
n March, Mdundo, initiated a partnership with anti-piracy specialist AudioLock to remove illegally hosted African songs from websites across the world. Earlier, in December 2019, Mdundo also partnered with Opera to offer Opera Mini users a chance for free, to listen and download their favourite music from the most recognized artists in Africa.
Launched in 2014, Mdundo provides access to all the continent’s favourite music across15 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, with over 20 million monthly downloads and streams via its website and app. Since its inception, Mdundo has been a member of Nairobi Garage and we are happy to see them make such huge milestones in the music industry.