Egyptian startup, Eksab, secures half a million dollars in funding for its fantasy sports platform

In a significant move for the sports entertainment industry in the Middle East and Africa (MEA), Cairo-based Eksab, a daily fantasy sports platform, has raised $500,000 in a funding round led by 4DX Ventures. The investment will be used to scale the product to millions of football fans in the region.

Founded in 2017, Eksab offers a unique platform for football fans to join competitions, make predictions about live games, collect points, and win prizes or cash through its mobile apps. Aly Mahmoud, the founder and CEO of Eksab, is building a next-generation and technology-driven platform tailored to local fans.

The funding round also included participation from strategic investors in the international sports and entertainment ecosystem, such as Sawari Ventures and Endure Capital. Zubair Naeem Paracha, Founder at our xA, a tech and startup enthusiast based in Lahore, Pakistan, was also among the investors.

4DX Ventures sees the region as an exciting and underserved market for a sports entertainment platform. Peter Orth, Partner at 4DX Ventures, is excited to be on the journey with Aly and the Eksab team. "We believe in Aly's vision to make Eksab the premier sports entertainment company in the MEA region by offering Fantasy Sports competitions and local sports content," Orth said.

Eksab aims to engage the estimated over a billion football fans across the Middle East and Africa. The company plans to launch its first paid competitions over the next year. The move follows a trend of venture capital investments in fantasy sports apps in various markets, including the US and India, where companies like Dream11, an Indian fantasy sports app, recently raised $225 million at a valuation of over $2.5 billion.

Notably, DraftKings, an $18-billion-dollar company, is a well-known player in the Daily Fantasy Sports industry in the US. Eksab had previously received seed funding from 500 Startups in June 2019.

In addition to his work at Eksab, Aly Mahmoud is also building Qraar, a career discovery and development platform for millennials in MENA. The article was written by Zubair Naeem Paracha, who can be reached on LinkedIn, Twitter, or via email at zubair [at] our website [dot] com. The article was published in Cairo, Egypt.

Egyptian startup, Eksab, secures half a million dollars in funding for its fantasy sports platform