Editor’s note: African-Startups is a sister publication of EU-Startups, bringing trusted coverage of startups, venture capital, and innovation across Africa.
US-based Aries Media Ventures has launched Aries Media Ventures Fund I, an early-stage fund that backs MediaTech startups serving Sub-Saharan Africa.
The fund has started investing and has made its first three bets: Aktivate, HustleSasa and Book Mahali. Aktivate is a creator marketing platform, HustleSasa is an event-commerce platform, and Book Mahali is a venue-booking and hospitality platform.
They are led by Akinbola Asalu (Aktivate), Peng Chen (HustleSasa), and Kagwe Mungai (Book Mahali). They announced Los Angeles on 20 October 2026. However, the size of the fund and the amounts invested in the three startups were not disclosed.
“Throughout my career, I was struck by how often the largest media companies were looking globally for growth while overlooking some of the most interesting innovation happening in emerging markets. Aries takes a different approach: identifying exceptional founders building for markets that are often underserved by traditional venture capital, and bringing them the capital, industry expertise and relationships they need to thrive,” said Alykhan Kaba, Founding General Partner at Aries Media Ventures.
Aries Media Ventures started as Aries Media Project, a professional network launched in 2023.
The network connected media and entertainment startups in emerging markets with investors, operators and industry experts in global media centres such as Los Angeles, New York and London.
After three years of making introductions between early-stage founders and executives at global media companies, the firm decided to invest directly in the founders it believed were building the future of media.
Kaba has spent more than a decade in media, entertainment, technology and corporate development. He has worked at Live Nation, Entertainment One, Activision Blizzard and NBCUniversal.
“Media is becoming increasingly global, but the capital and networks available to media entrepreneurs remain highly concentrated. Capital bears the burden of going where the innovation is, not vice versa. Our goal is to close that gap,” said Alykhan Kaba.
Fund I invests at the angel, pre-seed, and Seed stages. It targets tech-enabled businesses where media, entertainment and commerce meet.
The fund finds companies in two ways. It looks for founders who are already building businesses around big opportunities in their markets.
It also works with established media companies to learn what operational and commercial problems they face when expanding abroad, then connects those problems with founders who can build solutions.
Alongside capital, Aries gives its portfolio companies strategic support drawn from its experience and contacts across the global media industry.
