Big Cabal Media raises $2.3m to expand its Digital Products Line
Africa’s leading digital media company, Big Cabal Media (BCM), has announced a $2.3 million Seed funding round. The round will emphasize its commitment to keep building exciting and authoritative media products and brands.
Existing investors: Unicorn Capital Partners and Future Africa as well as new investors such as Mac Venture Capital and Luminate Capital Partners all participated in the round.
Prior to this funding, with just over $600,000 raised in funding, BCM has grown to become one of the most exciting media and tech businesses in Africa.
BCM was founded by Bankole Oluwafemi as TechCabal in 2013 with the intention of covering the growing Nigerian tech ecosystem and soon expanded its coverage to all of Africa. The publication covers startup fundraises, product launches, expansions, regulatory tussles, and stories of various players in the digital economy.
In 2014, Seyi Taylor joined the company as co-founder and CEO, while Oluwafemi continued in his role as Editor-in-Chief. They continued to expand TechCabal’s coverage and scale up its operations. In 2016, the duo decided to try something different with the launch of Zikoko. Tomiwa Aladekomo joined the company in 2016, taking over as CEO.
Big Cabal Media had derived its income mostly through native advertising, but Aladekomo oversaw the build-out of an extensive suite of advertising products across publications. Prior to this round, BCM had $600,000 raised in funding, BCM has grown to become one of the most exciting media and tech businesses in Africa.
Under Aladekomo’s leadership, BCM has also embarked on ambitious projects like Jollof Road, an 80-day adventurous road trip across all mainland countries in West Africa; and Tech Women Lagos, a multi-sensory exhibition of 50 women in the Lagos technology ecosystem from different backgrounds.
“I joined BCM in 2018, brought on some really talented people, and we immediately kickstarted a period of experimentation. Our experiments encompassed editorial content and approaches, monetisation and even company culture,” Aladekomo said.
With this new funding, BCM plans to develop its product serving, staff, and audience. “We are expanding our video production by exploring docuseries and short films,” Aladekomo said. “We will be transforming our studio into a community hub for creatives, and introducing 3 new tech products, including the Zikoko app and Zikoko Memes 2.0, which first launched in 2020. We will also be building out new audiences while offering competitive wages.”