AMP Global, Blockchain Entertainment Company secures $5.6M to scale its play-to-watch service

AMP Global Technologies, a blockchain-enabled video entertainment platform, has secured a $5.6 million seed round. The seed funding which are of two parts, $3 million from friends, family, and angel investors, and $2.6 million from venture capitalists will be used to scale its play-to-watch service to more users.

Derrick Ashong, a Ghanaian, founded AMP Global in 2014. The Los Angeles-based video streaming firm runs the Take Back The Mic app, an interactive content platform that allows content creators to build direct relationships with their audiences and compensates them for their participation. The majority of the content on the platform is created by up-and-coming rappers, artists, and actors. To buy mobile data, fans exchange points for AMP’s digital currency, Kola, which is built on an Ethereum-compatible blockchain. AMP can reach a wide following of young people online and stream its shows as a result of this.

“The same way other blockchain companies are doing play-to-earn, you can call what we are doing watch-to-earn; the more a user engages with our content, the more digital currency the user earns to stay online. Our goal is to build high-end and impactful content that is rewarding for the users through an interactive platform,” Ashong explained in an interview with TechCabal.

“Unlike many existing ‘play to earn’ models, the TBTM system is unique in that it enables users to earn mobile data that they can use on any platform; and also it doesn’t require users to do anything new. It simply rewards them for doing what they already do well—discovering and amplifying the best new talents from across the continent,” he added.

Take Back the Mic: The World Cup of Hip-Hop, a series created by AMP Global, was one of the company’s first attempts at making content interactive and easy to syndicate globally. Despite being AMP Global’s first fan-curated series, it was nominated for two Emmys for Outstanding Interactive Program for its use of deep engagement with media impressions and ROI across mobile, web, VR, and live media.

During the global pandemic in 2020, Ashong built on his two-time Emmy-nominated digital series, The World Cup of Hip-Hop, to create the first season of an Africa-focused digital interactive TV series, The Mic Africa.

The Mic Africa is Africa’s first-ever interactive TV series, in which viewers cast, curate, and decide the show’s outcome from start to finish using their TBTM smartphones. Six countries competed in the first season of the show. That number had risen to ten by the end of the year. The show is now broadcast in over 20 countries, including Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Rwanda, Mauritius, and Kenya, and has helped AMP win the Gold and Silver Telly Awards in 2021, competing against Netflix, HBO, and Disney+, as well as the Murex D’Or award for International Innovative Media in March 2022.

Marlon Nichols, Managing General Partner at the MaC said “The decision to partner with AMP Global Technologies was a simple one. AMP is a unique platform that not only leverages blockchain technology to incentivize users to access and engage with award-winning content via its play-to-earn model, but also champions and provides monetization opportunities for creators, distribution partners, and global brands. I’m proud to work alongside a team that focuses on the mutually beneficial relationship between technology, culture, and entertainment.”

“Marlon Nichols’ impact on Silicon Valley cannot be overstated, while (General Partner) Charles D. King’s influence in Hollywood needs no introduction. As a company squarely at the nexus of technology and entertainment, we’re honored and excited to get to work shoulder-to-shoulder with our role models,” Ashong said.

The investment will be used by AMP Global to launch its Gateway to the Internet program, which allows users to purchase mobile data with its blockchain-based digital currency earned through engagement with content in the Take Back the Mic (TBTM) app.

Last year, AMP Global announced plans to launch this program, as well as plans to collaborate with telecommunication companies such as 9Mobile in Nigeria, Kenya Telkom, and Liquid Telecom, as well as intergovernmental organizations such as the UN, UNESCO, and the UNHCR to expand the initiative once it launches.