Diaspora-founded startup Sliide Airtime is to launch a lock screen content delivery platform in Nigeria in March, offering users a new channel to access online content while also earning free airtime.
On downloading the Sliide Airtime app, users will be asked to enter information about their age and interests. The app will then provide personalised content when the user unlocks their mobile device.
Users will also see selected branded content, delivered through a partnership with mobile advertising network Twinpine.
To earn additional airtime via the app, users can complete in-app offers, and for a limited period will also earn NGN100 (US$0.50) for every friend they sign up to the service.
“Sliide Airtime is a new and innovative way of funding mobile internet access in countries where data charges are high,” said South African-born founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Corbyn Munnik.
“In Nigeria it will help overcome the problem of expensive data and gives advertisers a smart new way of targeting and reaching consumers with customised content.”
The content service includes news and features from Nigerian and international media sources, and will be updated 24/7.
Sliide Airtime also enables mobile operators to integrate the app within new devices to establish their own content services; providing operators with a new mobile advertising revenue stream.
The app was developed and tested in the UK, and has received funding from UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), and Silicon Valley-based VC fund Draper Dark Flow.
The app will be available in Nigeria on Android via the Google Play Store and the sliideairtime.ng site from March. Further launches in South Africa, Ghana and Kenya are planned for later in the year.
