US media money is looking at African creators. It has just written its first cheques, but it will not say how big they are.
Aries Media Ventures, a US firm, has launched Aries Media Ventures Fund I. It backs early-stage MediaTech startups that serve Sub-Saharan Africa. It has made three bets already: Aktivate, HustleSasa and Book Mahali. The fund was announced on 20 October 2026. The size of the fund and the amounts put into the three startups were not disclosed. Fund I invests at angel, pre-seed and seed stages. It targets tech-enabled firms where media, entertainment and commerce meet.
The three companies cover different parts of the creator economy. Aktivate is a creator marketing platform led by Akinbola Asalu. HustleSasa is an event-commerce platform led by Peng Chen. Book Mahali is a venue-booking and hospitality platform led by Kagwe Mungai.
More is known about HustleSasa than the other two. The Nairobi startup began as a way for creators to sell merchandise and tickets to fans through their own storefront links. Chen and Michael Denuh co-founded it in 2021 at the Antler accelerator in Nairobi. It now offers event management, digital ticketing and marketing tools. More than 4,000 creators and event organisers use it, in six African countries. It sold more than 521,000 tickets in 2025. In September, Impacc led a funding round in HustleSasa. That amount was not disclosed either.
The firm began as Aries Media Project, a network launched in 2023. It linked media startups in emerging markets with investors and experts in Los Angeles, New York and London. After three years of making introductions, it chose to invest directly in the founders it believed were building the future of media.
Alykhan Kaba, the founding general partner, has spent more than a decade in media, entertainment and technology. He has worked at Live Nation, Entertainment One, Activision Blizzard and NBCUniversal. “Capital bears the burden of going where the innovation is, not vice versa,” he said. “Our goal is to close that gap.”
The fund finds companies in two ways. It looks for founders already chasing big opportunities in their markets. It also asks established media firms what problems they face when they expand abroad. Then it links those problems to founders who can solve them. Alongside cash, startups get advice and contacts from the global media industry.
Why it matters: A fund that backs only this corner of the market, and brings global media contacts, could help local founders land bigger partners and reach more fans. The missing numbers are the catch. Without a fund size or cheque sizes, it is hard to say how much weight Aries can put behind its bets.
What to watch next: the size of Fund I, how many more African startups it backs, and whether global media companies start to buy from or partner with its portfolio.
Sources: African-Startups on Aries Media Ventures’ debut fund; Innovation Village on HustleSasa’s funding round.
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