Iroko TV to Shop for $150m Capital from LSE

IROKO TV, film-streaming service, is currently planning to raise $150 million fresh capital from the London Stock Exchange (LSE).

The film streaming service TV is also seeking to list on the LSE’s Alternative Investment Market within the next year, Jason Njoku, chief executive officer,  told The Africa Report.

iROKOtv was launched on December 1, 2011. Dubbed the ‘Netflix’ of Africa, it is the world’s largest legal digital distributor of African movies, especially Nollywood films.

According to Mr Njoku, the sale would aim to raise between $20 million and $30 million and would value the whole business at between $80 million and $100 million. He also added that discussions with brokers will start in the coming weeks.

Confirming the report on his official Twitter handle, he tweeted, ‘God willing It feels like the right time’’.

He said the move was partly necessitated by the devaluation of the naira which has affected his company’s revenue since 2016. He also noted that his firm will focus more on North America and Western Europe subscribers, who account for more than 80 per cent of revenues.

Jason Njoku, chief executive officer, Iroko TV

According to him, the devaluation of Naira dropped the platform’s subscription costs from N3,000 ($18) in 2015 to N3,000 ($8.33) by 2017.

Currently, a subscription to the platform costs $6.3 with a dollar equivalent to N477.

Mr Njoku said it was rather strange to be finding out after almost nine years with IROKOtv, five exclusively focused in Africa, that the brand “may be too early for Africa”.

Interestingly, while the company’s fortunes are dipping in Africa, business is booming internationally with the average revenue per user in the west between $25 and $30.

Irokotv is a web platform that provides paid-for Nigerian films on-demand. It is one of Africa’s first mainstream online movie streaming websites, providing access to over 5,000 Nollywood film titles. irokotv is a part of iROKO Limited which is one of Africa’s entertainment companies.

irokotv was launched on 1 December 2011.

Its parent company, iROKO Partners, was founded by Jason Njoku and Bastian Gotter in December 2010, with its headquarters in London, United Kingdom.

irokotv is one of the world’s legal digital distributors of African movies.