Eksab, an Egyptian fantasy football platform, has confirmed that it has closed a $3 million Seed funding round. The Seed round is reported to have been led by 4DX Ventures with participation from Darwazah Capital, Golden Palm Investments, P1 Ventures, and a number of angel investors from what is said to be the local and global sports and entertainment ecosystem.
Eksab is the first and only licensed fantasy football platform in Egypt and plans to acquire additional licenses to operate in three additional countries by mid-202.
“This is a phenomenally high growth period in our business as we look to take our platform to new audiences. We are also really excited to have some leading global investors and partners join this round. The fact that our previous investors are all doubling-down on Eksab highlights the great effort the team has put in over the last 12 months and the massive opportunity in the sector. With the growth of Web3 and play-to-earn gaming, we see Eksab as being at the forefront of the digital transformation of football, content, community and gaming across Africa and the Middle East," said Aly Mahmoud, Eksab Founder and CEO.
Football gaming market
The timing of Eksab's funding couldn't have been more perfect.
Already, Eksab is the leading daily fantasy platform regionally. Added to that, the 2022 FIFA World Cup is taking place in the Middle East in November 2022 for the first time ever. This makes the North Afrikan fantasy football platform uniquely positioned to dominate the growing football gaming market in the region, using technology to connect football fans and build gaming communities, especially as it looks to secure exclusive partnerships with leading clubs in the Middle East & Afrika.
Eksab has added that it plans to acquire additional licenses to operate in three additional countries by mid-2022 as it looks to increase its registered users beyond the 700,000 it currently has in Egypt.
Expanding beyond its current base
Eksab's users have several options on the platform as they can participate in daily, weekly and monthly fantasy and predictions contests. Its user base makes over a million ‘picks’ each month.
Apparently, since the launch of Eksab's premium competitions in 2021, it has grown its paying user base by an average of 60% month on month. In addition, Eksab has already partnered with over 10 top-tier Egyptian football players and content creators and is rapidly becoming a household brand name amongst football fans. As it invests further in its technology, Eksab is currently adding functionality to integrate with leading blockchain-based platforms to enable football fans to capitalize on Web 3.0’s increased speed and transparency.
With the new Seed financing round, Eksab hopes that it is uniquely positioned to dominate the growing football gaming market in the region, using technology to connect football fans and build gaming communities, especially as it looks to secure exclusive partnerships with leading clubs in the Middle East & Africa.
“We have been consistently impressed by the growth Eksab has demonstrated over the past 12 months, powered by technology-backed innovation and unrivalled market knowledge, by Aly and his team. The football gaming market is enormous globally, but especially in MENA. Eksab has built a product and a community that has been rapidly growing in the MENA region but can easily scale across the continent - which fits 4DX’s investment ethos perfectly," said Dan Marlo, Managing Partner at 4DX.
— By Tefo Mohapi
