(http://techloy.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Iroko-Partners-Offices5-e1332276321155.jpg)
Last week, we broke (http://techloy.com/2012/03/14/iroko-partners-funding/) the news that Iroko Partners (http://techloy.com/company/iroko-partners/) was working on a massive funding of about $10 million, after a tip-off from a source.
Today, Jason Njoku (http://techloy.com/people/jason-njoku/), the company's founder & CEO confirmed to me that they have raised $8 million in cash from two rounds led by Tiger Global (http://www.crunchbase.com/financial-organization/tiger-global), a New York-based privately-owned investment firm with investments in emerging markets.
It is uncertain the terms of the deal and how much stake its new investors have in the company.
When I first got the scoop last week, I wasn't surprised since Njoku had been running amok far away in San Francisco and New York for the past weeks likely having meetings with potential investors.
As I guessed earlier, Njoku also confirmed that the money would be used for the company's international expansion plans, as it plans to double its London team to 12 and open a New York office in April with focus on business development.
"We are attempting to finally solve the global distribution and monetization problem for Nigerian movies and music...[and] evangelizing Nigerian entertainment to Madison Avenue," said Njoku.
With this cash injection, Iroko Partners would also be moving beyond movie distribution into actual content creation. Last December, it launched (http://techloy.com/2011/12/15/iroko-partners-launches-iroktv-for-exclusive-celeb-interviews/) what appears to be the first and most comprehensive Nigerian celebrity video production house, iROKtv.
iROKtv (http://www.youtube.com/iroktv) features exclusive video interviews of the hottest stars and starlettes from the Nigerian music, movies and celebrity industry, more like an E! News-like online platform for behind-the-scenes stories about celebs and perhaps red carpet moments.
Founded in 2010 by Jason Njoku with initial funding of $100,000 from his business partner, Bastian Gotter, the company has the exclusive rights to distribute all of Nollywood movies digitally and boasts the largest collection of movies available anywhere, organized in one place.
TechLoy