Afrostream
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Afrostream was a French, Y Combinator-backed subscription video-on-demand platform streaming African, African-American, and African-Caribbean movies and TV series. Founded by Tonje Bakang, it offered a curated library of culturally specific content not readily available on mainstream platforms, serving France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and 24 African countries.
02 / Afrostream FAILURE REASONS
Failure factors supported by the current evidence
Founder-CEO Tonjé Bakang wrote that a last-minute investor withdrawal on 17 March 2017 ended new financing (which he called the project's clinical death); cash then ran out so salaries could not be paid by end-August, broadcasting rights expired and subscription revenue fell without marketing, and talks with more than 10 potential U.S. buyers failed, after which he suspended Afrostream Studio France.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Founded
Tonje Bakang founds Afrostream in France, an SVOD service dedicated to African and Afro-diaspora film and television; it launches in September 2015.
- Failed sale talks
Between April and August 2017, the founder discusses a sale with more than ten potential buyers in Los Angeles, Miami, and New York; subscription revenue drops as broadcasting rights expire and marketing stops, and by the end of August he can no longer pay salaries.
- Shutdown
On September 13, 2017, two years after launch, Afrostream stops marketing subscriptions and closes its service definitively in France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and 24 African countries; the founder publishes a candid post-mortem of the four-year adventure.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
On September 13, 2017, Afrostream stopped marketing subscriptions and closed its service definitively in France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and 24 African countries.
- 02
The founder suspended the activities of the French subsidiary, Afrostream Studio France, while the Afrostream brand and developed technology remained the property of the American parent company, Afrostream Inc., leaving a sale conceivable.