South African Celebrity startup myFanPark raises funding from Seed South VC firm
South African celebrity engagement startup myFanPark has announced it secured an undisclosed amount of investment from new local VC firm Seed South to help it further expand.
myFanPark was launched in 2019 to enable users to request a personalized shout-out video from their favorite celebrity, such as birthday or celebration messages. Upon payment, the celebrity has seven days to record the video message, and myFanPark can deliver the video directly to the fan via email and WhatsApp.
Since its creation, the platform has been able to deliver over 20,000 unique talent experiences to fans, maintained a 99.6 percent talent retention rate, and boasts a 21 percent customer return rate.
myFanPark chief executive officer (CEO) Joy Des Fountain expressed joy while also noting that the startup enjoys connecting fans to celebrities they admire.
“Creators and their fans are a large part of the future of commerce, and a creator’s ability to drive commerce is exponentially growing. As we enter our seed+ fundraise and focus on our expansion plans, we are excited for the opportunity to move beyond one dimensional, transactional commerce to personality-rich, fun-to-engage, and hyper-personalized distribution channels where fans can engage with those they admire through our world-class technology” said Joy.
Seed South Capital’s managing partner Sakhile Xulu also commented on the investment saying:
“The rise of the creator economy has exploded but is still in its infancy. While the success of companies such as Cameo, Patreon, and Kickstarter have validated the space, we are confident in myFanPark’s vision to improve the relationship and ease of monetization between talent and fans — especially in developing markets like Africa — through one, unified platform.
“With skin in the game, we proved our abilities to source good deal-flow as well as the viability of our model. Which is: by helping entrepreneurs cross the first investment hurdle, we create access and good quality deal-flow for follow-on investors” he said.