EGYPT – Eksab, a Cairo-based Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) platform, has raised US$500,000 in funding to help it reach more football fans across the Middle East and Africa.
The startup, which raised a round of seed funding from 500 Startups in June 2019, has announced an investment of US$500,000 from 4DX Ventures as well as other strategic investors within the international sports and entertainment ecosystem.
Eksab is looking to tap into the MENA region’s love for football by providing users with exciting and engaging mobile games. Users download the app, make predictions about live football games from around the world, collect points based on the accuracy of their predictions, and get rewarded with prizes.
With the investment, Eksab plans to scale its product to the millions of football fans in the region with the goal of launching its first paid competitions over the next year.
“Daily Fantasy Sports and monetised competitions are a multi-billion dollar a year industry in the US,” said Eksab co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Aly Mahmoud.
“Our goal is to become the premier sports entertainment company in the MEA region by offering exciting fantasy sports competitions as well as highly engaging local sports content.”
“We’re bringing the FanDuel and DraftKings model to the world’s largest football market. Our ultimate goal is to provide an unmatched daily source of entertainment, engagement, and content for the region’s football fans,” added the founder of Eksab.
DraftKings is an US$18-billion-dollar company. In addition to the United States, fantasy sports apps have been popular and have attracted VC dollars in many other markets too. Dream11, an Indian fantasy sports app recently raised US$225 million at a valuation of over US$2.5 billion.
Eksab estimates that there are over a billion football fans across the Middle East and Africa and that’s the opportunity it wants to tap into – by engaging them.
The startup plans to use the latest investment to scale its product to millions of football fans in the region and launch its first paid competitions over the next year.
Peter Orth, partner at 4DX, said he saw the region as one of the most exciting and underserved markets for a sports entertainment platform.
“We’ve been really impressed with Aly’s vision for a next-generation and technology-driven platform that is also highly tailored to local fans and their preferences. We’re excited to be on this journey with Aly and the rest of the Eksab team,” he said.
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