Kenya: Mdundo lists on Nasdaq First North bourse

During the two-week tender period leading up to the listing date, Mdundo's share sale offer was oversubscribed by 110%, receiving subscriptions from almost 3 000 investors. 

Through the listing, the music startup aims to raise additional funds for its continued growth into new African markets and to validate its position as a pan-African market leader in music distribution.

The music service is available to users worldwide but has a business focus in 15 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including a commercial market focus in Tanzania and Kenya, where Mdundo began operations in 2013, as well as Nigeria, Ghana and Uganda. 

"Mdundo currently has 5 million monthly users, but our potential is more than 30 times greater," Mdundo CEO Martin Nielsen said. "With a steep growth curve and a very scalable solution, we plan to invest further in user growth to increase our market coverage to the whole of sub-Saharan Africa.

"Within approximately three years, we will have established Mdundo as the leading pan-African music service for consumers and musicians. This way, we would achieve in Africa what Spotify has achieved in the West and what Tencent has achieved in Asia."

The head of listing at Nasdaq Copenhagen, Carsten Borring, said: "We are proud to welcome Mdundo.com to the Nasdaq First North Growth Market. With the listing of Mdundo's music service solution, we continue the important investment in Danish technology startups, which will ensure continued growth, development and innovation, as well as the jobs of the future. " 

The company says it works relentlessly to promote legal African music access and that it has been instrumental in eliminating links to illegal African music on Google. In February, it announced a partnership with anti-piracy service AudioLock to tackle the unlicensed distribution of content.

"It's one of our key focuses at Mdundo, to get people who are currently accessing music illegally in Africa to move to legal platforms," Nielsen said. "We believe in a fair and open music industry on the continent, where African artists are remunerated for their great music, and fans can listen to all the music they want at a low and affordable cost."

Meanwhile, Mdundo is currently running free virtual songwriting classes for five upcoming artists via its platform as part of the Mdundo Artist Support programme, which seeks to guide and equip rising artists with the skills to perfect their art. The online classes are facilitated by singer-songwriter Brandy Maina.