Jada Gaming co-founder and industry stalwart Josh Tromans-Jones is launching a new free-to-play (F2P) Africa-facing brand, with plans to add real-money gaming capabilities in the future.
Tromans-Jones has co-founded PlayZuZu alongside former BetBright chief marketing officer Anthony Broadhurst, with the firm’s first platform, Rise & Hustle, going live this week.
Rise & Hustle, which has been built on a proprietary platform and uses blockchain technology, will allow users to earn an in-house cryptocurrency, level up and unlock real-world prizes.
The F2P site will include a portfolio of online casino and lottery-style games, with players able to earn Rise Tokens.
Those tokens can then be exchanged for tangible, real-world assets, such as mobile airtime, subscription packages and utilities.
The tokens will also allow users to vote on site upgrades, such as adding payment methods, or new game releases.
The platform has gone live in Nigeria, with expansion plans in the pipeline for Kenya and Ghana before the end of the year.
Once the F2P platform has gained traction, real-money gaming will be added to the offering, with plans to expand outside of online casino and lottery games once that move comes to fruition.
EGR understands the business has staff based around the globe in Asia, Africa and eastern Europe.
The headcount includes a team of 80 technical specialists, 40 operational staff, on-the-ground marketing support and dedicated brand evangelists championing Rise & Hustle.
The business is also using AI as part of its development processes and supporting security measures, with the brand creating its own in-house games to populate Rise & Hustle.
PlayZuZu has also been backed by an unnamed investor with experience in the sector.
Expansion outside of Africa, including the Middle East, has been mooted as a potential option, depending on the success of the initial launch.
Tromans-Jones co-founded Jada Gaming before the business was snapped up by Symplify in early 2022 for €30m.
He served as chief innovation officer at the CRM supplier once the deal completed.
Speaking to EGR ahead of the launch, Tromans-Jones said the rapid rate of development on the African continent made it a prime target market for Rise & Hustle.
He explained: “The obvious answer is the growth in Africa in terms of demographics. For example, the growth in a very young population lends itself to gaming very well.
“There are other factors as well. In Europe, changing the technologic infrastructure can be very cumbersome. In Africa, the growth has been phenomenal because they don’t have the legacy issues of infrastructure to deal with. They can leapfrog fibre optics and go straight to Starlink.”
Speaking on the thinking behind going to market with a F2P-first approach, Tromans-Jones said a key factor was building trust among consumers without them having to spend money, as well as gamifying the experience for players.
He added: “If you play traditional video games, every single level has a meaning. There’s a reason that you’re doing something, and it’s not only financially driven, but there’s some excitement, and there’s some enjoyment of levelling up because there’s buy in to the story.
“That’s something we definitely want to leverage, not just a race to the bottom by giving more bonuses than everybody else. That’s not something we see as viable.”
The wider group has already been subjected to acquisition offers, EGR also understands.
However, touching on the eventual aim for the business, Tromans-Jones concluded: “Growing quickly, regardless of end goal, is something that we want to do. The customers are believing in what we’re putting out there.
“In terms of an exit, it’s not something that we have in mind. We’re very much focused on getting more games out there, getting more markets live and getting as many users to be able to experience this product as possible. That’s our goal.
“I think anybody, when the right number is on the table is open to negotiations, but it’s not something that we’re actively seeking at the moment.”
The post Exclusive: Jada Gaming co-founder unveils Africa-facing F2P startup first appeared on EGR Intel.
Josh Tromans-Jones heads to B2C side of the sector with launch of Rise & Hustle, a play-to-earn crypto-first platform, with plans to bolt-on real-money gaming and sports in the future
The post Exclusive: Jada Gaming co-founder unveils Africa-facing F2P startup first appeared on EGR Intel.