GBarena, a Cairo-based esports and tournaments platform, has raised six figures in its most recent fundraising round. Key angel investors Ahmed Aboudoma, Kushal Shah, and the HIM Angles VC network led the Pre-Series A financing.
GBarena will use the new cash to develop and generate new services, such as a digital store that will be integrated with a special GBarena coin currency that will allow gamers to purchase in-game products straight from the platform.
GBarena has also appointed Eng. Ahmed Aboudoma as the company’s new Executive Chairman as a result of the funding. Eng. Aboudoma will set the key functions and provide top-level leadership and direction to the board of GBarena, bringing with him 27 years of experience in the MICT industry.
“It is an honour to have Eng. Ahmed Aboudoma is part of GBarena’s family as our new Executive Chairman’’ said Samer Wagdy, CEO. “We are looking forward to accomplishing more with him, as well as learning from his experience”.
With this investment, the investors join other investors in Egypt’s startup gaming space such as Flat6Labs, 4DX Ventures. Investment, last year, in Anubis Gaming came from a regional ecommerce group.
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Africa’s gaming ecosystem is still developing. Building on the success of “Aurion’s Heritage of Kori-Odan”, which in 2016 became the very first video game made in Cameroon, Cameroonian startup Kiro’o Games, recently announced it has raised more than $1m as part of a fundraising campaign it launched in 2019. This was not the first time Kiro’o Games was raising funds. The startup successfully raised $305,000 through equity crowdfunding between 2013 and 2018, and in 2019 launched a $1 million crowdfunding target through its own crowdfunding platform called Rebuntu Equity Crowdfunding.
All over the world, fantasy sports apps have been popular and have attracted VC money in many other markets too. Dream11, an Indian fantasy sports app recently raised $225 million at a valuation of over $2.5 billion. DraftKings, another fantasy sports startup is valued at $18-billion-dollar.
A Look At What Gbarena Does
Gbarena, a fast-growing esports and tournaments platform backed by Cairo’s AUC Vlab, was founded in 2016 by Mustafa Zaza and Bishoy Mesdary with the goal of creating an online gaming community that connects gamers with tournament organizers and providing organizers with a platform where they can manage and organize their own tournaments seamlessly through fully automated processes. The complexity of Gbarena’s data analytics provides a revenue-generating opportunity by assisting brands in reaching their filtered target groups based on user demographics and behavior.
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The company is currently developing additional distinctive services that will benefit the platform’s gamers, organizers, and clients. The new money will be used to develop and produce new services, such as a digital store that will be combined with a unique GBarena coin currency, allowing gamers to purchase in-game products straight from the platform.
“The growing esports industry continues to evolve and thus presents exciting opportunities to create value for rising startups such as GBarena. This round of investment can provide us with a chance to continue to expand, innovate and develop new products that meet the demands and needs of our stakeholders,” CEO Samer Wagdy concluded.
Esports Gbarena Esports Gbarena
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer