Lagos Life maker Vatar raises $500,000 at a $10 million valuation

Vatar Inc., the Nigerian company behind the browser game Lagos Life, has raised $500,000 at a $10 million valuation, TechCabal and Technext reported on 9 October. TechCabal describes the deal as an angel round, while Technext calls it pre-seed.

Flutterwave chief executive Olugbenga Agboola took part through his investment fund, Resilience17. The other named backers are Oo Nwoye, Terra Industries chief executive Nathan Nwachuku and Mono chief executive Abdulhamid Hassan. According to Technext, the round came together in less than a day.

Lagos Life launched on 1 October and spread quickly on Nigerian social media. Technext reports that the game had 4.3 million players from 15 countries by 8 October, with more than 200,000 playing at peak times. The company says it has earned or contracted more than $170,000 in revenue from advertising, brand partnerships, music promotions and in-game purchases. It has not said whether it is profitable.

Vatar was founded on 6 October by Shalom Rayhamen, its chief executive, with Owen Rayhamen and Anderson Oriahi. It plans to put the money into product development, marketing and hiring.