Grace Ashiru
In its most recent investment round, the educational entertainment firm Kukua, whose offices are in London and Nairobi and responsible for producing the “Super Sema,” African fist cartoon superhero movie, successfully raised a total of $6 million.
Alchimia, an Italian Venture capital firm and Recent were the ones who took the helm for the Series A financing. Other investors that participated in the funding round include Auxxo Female Catalyst, First minute Capital and EchoVC.
Even though Lucrezia Bisignani in 2018 established Kukua, the firm did not launch the Super Sema first edition until 3 years after the firm was established.
She observed the following: “When I began this, we discovered we lacked African characters. Also, they weren’t Black characters. Because of this, we reasoned that children in Africa and elsewhere in the world required a platform like this. They did it so kids can have the opportunity to grow up with cartoons that are not only white but feature a wide variety of cultures and issues and make them feel like they are represented.
The story is about Super Sema, an African girl who is 10 years old and a superhero. She is creative, determined, and works well with others. To resist the despicable robot dictator who lords over her hamlet and his minions, she creates advancements in her secret laboratory by combining elements of arts, science, mathematics, engineering, and technology. Her goal is to destroy the robot tyrant.
In the same year, the company raised USD 2.5 million in a seed round of funding with the assistance of several investors, one of whom was EchoVC. This venture capital firm focuses on Africa.
Kukua argues that the money will assist it with its quest to continue establishing an intellectual property (IP)-centric “edutainment” environment for children, as it will allow it to add new Super Sema licensing original content, publishing and retail alternatives.
