Kenyan Startup Mdundo Raises $6.4m in Pre-sale, to List on Danish Exchange

• The Kenyan music service Mdundo due to an oversubscribed pre-sale period that raised DKK40 million (US$6.4 million) and will be listing its shares on the Nasdaq First North Growth Market Denmark tomorrow.
• Mdundo aims to raise additional funds for its continued growth into new African markets and to validate its position as the pan-African market leader in music distribution.
• The startup says it works relentlessly to promote legal African music access and has been instrumental in eliminating more than one million links to illegal African music from Google.

The Kenyan music service Mdundo will be listing its shares on the Nasdaq First North Growth Market Denmark tomorrow due to an oversubscribed pre-sale period that raised DKK40 million (US$6.4 million). This move is in a bid to solidify Mdundo’s leading position in the pan-African music market.

Launched in 2013, Mdundo gives more than five million monthly active users in 15 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa access to all of the continent’s favourite songs, with over 20 million monthly downloads and streams via its website and app.

The major markets for the company are Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Nigeria and Ghana, with a rising focus on Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Angola, Rwanda, Cameroon, Congo, Malawi, South Africa and Namibia, and it has now agreed on an initial public offering in Denmark, where it is headquartered.

Through its listing on Nasdaq First North and opening the trading of its stock which it will do tomorrow – Friday, September 4, Mdundo aims to raise additional funds for its continued growth into new African markets and to validate its position as the pan-African market leader in music distribution.

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During the two-week tender period leading up to the listing date, Mdundo’s share sale offer was oversubscribed (when the interest of investors is more than the number of available shares) by 110 per cent, receiving subscriptions from almost 3,000 investors and raising DKK40 million (US$6.4 million).

“Mdundo currently has five million monthly users, but our potential is more than 30 times greater. With a steep growth curve and a very scalable solution, we plan to invest further in user growth to increase our market coverage to the whole of sub-Saharan Africa, so that within approximately three years we will have well established Mdundo as the leading pan-African music service for consumers and musicians. In this way, we want to achieve in Africa what Spotify has achieved in the West and what Tencent has achieved in Asia,” said Martin Nielsen, chief executive officer (CEO) of Mdundo.

In Africa, 30 per cent of mobile phone users listen to music on their mobile devices, but this is achieved mainly through illegal downloads, close to the case in Europe and the US about 15 years ago. Just as platforms such as iTunes and Spotify have taken over the market, Mdundo is putting itself ahead of the curve in sub-Saharan Africa, improving access to music through its legal music service.

The startup says it works relentlessly to promote legal African music access and has been instrumental in eliminating more than one million links to illegal African music from Google.

“It’s one of our key focuses at Mdundo, to get people who are currently accessing music illegally in Africa to move to legal platforms. We believe in a fair and open music industry on the continent, where African artists are remunerated for their great music, and fans can listen to all the music they want at a low/affordable cost,” Nielsen said.