Nigerian Data And Intelligence Startup, Stears Raises $3.3 Million From Serena Williams, Mac VC

• A Nigerian news and data company, Stears, has raised about $3.3 million in seed funding
• The company secured the seed round from Serena Ventures, owned by legendary Tennis player Serena Williams and other VC firms
• According to Stears, the funding would be used to enhance its product reach and its subscription model

A group of graduates from the London School of Economics noticed how hard it was to obtain data and information on Nigeria.

The graduates from different backgrounds, including an economist, software engineers, data scientists and a lawyer, launched a media startup in 2017 driven by the scarcity of information and data-driven insights in Nigeria.

The starting point for Stears

Five years later, Stears announced a $3.3 million seed funding led by Mac Venture, Serena Serena Ventures, Omidyar Group's Laminate Fund, Melo 7 Tech Partners and Cascador.

Read also

Glo joins MTN and Airtel in starting banking service, as CBN gives approval

The funding comes two years after the startup raised $650,000 in the pre-seed round. In September, Stears was one of the 60 startups accepted into Google for Startups Black Founders Fund 2022 cohort, which included some non-dilutive funding.

The company began as a media publication dedicated to financial news insights in Nigeria. Its subscription product, Stears Premium, has content ranging from news and opinion pieces to investigative pieces and deep dives which educate the general public on issues around business, finance, economy, government and policy in Nigeria.

The $100 subscription product saw considerable usage among readers, especially employees in finance-related institutions across Nigeria.

Some of its subscribers include financial institutions, fintech firms and others.

According to the company, its userbase has grown from organic traffic at around 6.5 per cent month-on-month, doubling its total number of users over the last year.

Read also

2023 elections: Poverty is APC’s biggest legacy by Phrank Shaibu

Co-founder of Stears, Preston Ideh told TechCrunch that an important part of the company's business model is pushing out high-value subscription data products like news and forecast models.

Contrarily, the low-value end would be news that allows customers' readiness to spend to change as they go along the spectrum.

Stears products stirs huge reactions

Stears Premium, including introducing other products like Stears Pro and Stears Advisory, has seen it metamorphose into a data and intelligence firm. Trends and issues like GDP and inflation drive content at Stears.

The company is planning to aid its transition from insight to a data company, rejuvenated by the new investment; the firm is planning a strategy modification for the premium product.

The company's data scientist, Abdul Abdulrahim, is working with international development institutions, financial institutions, institutional development, and other financial firms to create an exclusive database that doesn't exist anywhere else.

Read also

Google Provides Updates on its $1billion Commitment in Africa

Moove secures N43.5 billion funding to scale across Africa, Middle East, Asia and Europe

Recall that Legit.ng reported that Nigeria-based Africa mobility fintech firm, Moove has secured over N43 billion in new funding to give vehicle financing to drivers of ride-hail companies like Uber and gig networks in seven new frontiers across the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe in the next six months.

This comes after the startup got N4.15 billion in February and another N9.5 billion in August 2021 last year.

The company stated that the funds will give its freelancers in other vehicle categories like tricycles and buses the needed leverage to accelerate the businesses.

Source: Legit.ng