Rise of Fearless, the African-owned battle royale cell recreation, has raised $1 million from Epic Edges Capital, a Dubai-based funding agency, by a Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE), to develop its viewers and build a commercially sustainable gaming franchise.
The contemporary capital will fund recreation growth, infrastructure, advertising, and community-building, whereas bringing skilled worldwide gaming executives and builders into the mission.
The funding comes amid rising investor curiosity in Africa’s gaming trade, fuelled by an increasing participant base and demand for domestically developed video games. Africa’s gaming market is projected to generate $1.98 billion in income in 2026, according to a report by gaming tech startup Carry1st and analysis agency Newzoo. Mobile gaming is anticipated to account for almost 82% of that income.
Launched in 2025, Rise of Fearless is a free-to-play battle royale recreation primarily based on Ethiopia’s 1896 Battle of Adwa, the place gamers can select avatars and weapons and compete in a peer-to-peer survival match. The recreation, accessible on Google Play Store and the App Store, has recorded over 15,000 complete downloads, in accordance to its founder, Kanessa Muluneh.
She mentioned the funding marks a shift from experimenting with a gaming product to constructing a enterprise succesful of competing internationally.
“Launching a game is really not the hardest part,” she advised TechCabal in an October 27 interview. “But scaling it and competing with whatever is out there is definitely something I underestimated.”
Under the financing association, Muluneh mentioned Rise of Fearless has one 12 months to meet agreed efficiency milestones, together with reaching 100,000 energetic gamers and finishing important technical enhancements to the sport. The firm didn’t disclose its valuation and the exact phrases below which Epic Edges would obtain fairness.
The milestone tied to the financing underscores a appreciable leap from the sport’s present traction. Rise of Fearless has surpassed 15,000 complete downloads, with its largest participant communities in Nigeria, Ethiopia, and South Africa, in accordance to Muluneh. Meeting the goal would require not solely attracting considerably extra customers but in addition retaining them as energetic gamers.
Muluneh is betting that worldwide experience and stronger advertising will drive development as investor curiosity in Africa’s gaming trade will increase.
“I did 15,000 [game downloads] by myself,” she mentioned. “If I can do that by myself, then no doubt that with a strong team and strong marketing plan we can easily get 100,000 in Africa.”
The Rise of Fearless deal additionally highlights rising investor urge for food for African-based gaming ventures and storytelling, at the same time as builders grapple with changing participant engagement into sustainable income.
In October, Vatar, the startup behind the viral Nigerian browser recreation Lagos Life, raised $500,000 in an angel spherical at a $10 million valuation, barely a week after its launch. The firm is now reportedly seeking an additional $2.5 million in pre-seed funding at a $15 million valuation, in accordance to native publication Condia.
Funding a gaming ambition
Muluneh mentioned she has financed most of Rise of Fearless’s growth herself. In the interview with TechCabal, she estimated spending almost $2.8 million creating and selling the sport, which presently generates income solely by promoting.
“Because I had to get it audited for the investment, I had to count how much money I basically spent on a monthly, yearly basis on this game, and we came close to $2.8 million,” she mentioned. “And that’s not just money for the development; there’s also money for the marketing that I spent, for all the travelling to attend events, management team, social media, [and] community management. In hindsight, it wasn’t necessary. I didn’t have to spend that much. But this is the price you pay if you go in without a plan, I guess.”
Some of these prices accrued from errors in the course of the recreation’s early growth, together with altering growth groups and failing to safe possession of sure recreation property, Muluneh mentioned.
The funding additionally follows an earlier financing association that by no means materialised into usable capital. In September 2025, Muluneh told the magazine Entrepreneur MENA that Rise of Fearless had secured $700,000 from an undisclosed personal investor.
“What’s strategic about our approach is that we haven’t deployed these funds yet – we’re being intentional about timing. When we do, 25% will go toward game development and the remaining 75% toward marketing,” she mentioned on the time.
However, she advised TechCabal that the funds have been by no means deployed and the association was finally deserted after disagreements over its phrases.
Muluneh mentioned she selected to proceed financing the mission independently somewhat than settle for investor strain earlier than she had settled on a viable technique.
One of the largest unresolved questions is how Rise of Fearless will become profitable. While promoting has generated some income, Muluneh has intentionally delayed a broader monetisation push to prioritise gameplay and viewers development. She didn’t disclose the sport’s promoting income or month-to-month working prices.
Building an African-owned gaming franchise
Muluneh’s monetisation technique has expanded past gameplay and promoting income to constructing a broader gaming franchise. After visiting San Francisco, United States, and assembly gaming trade executives, she started exploring extra income streams, together with merchandise, occasions, sponsorships, and licencing the sport’s mental property (IP).
The firm is bringing 4 worldwide gaming corporations into its growth and publishing group as companions to enhance gameplay, strengthen its industrial technique, and develop the Rise of Fearless franchise, in accordance to the founder.
Miniboss Solutions, a gaming consultancy specialising in publishing and advertising and led by Adam Krause, who beforehand labored at Ubisoft, 2K/Take-Two and Capcom, and TJ Consunji, who beforehand labored at PlayStation and Krafton.
Trick Question Studios, an leisure IP growth agency led by TQ Jefferson, a former government at Marvel and Disney, and senior supervisor at Pixar, will oversee franchise technique and inventive route.
IDG Intelligence, a gaming trade analysis and advisory agency led by president and chief government officer Yoshio Osaki, will present market analysis, information analytics, and funding technique experience.
Spectra Entertainment, a recreation growth firm specialising in artwork, technical artwork, and AAA-quality manufacturing, will contribute technical experience to enhance the sport’s growth and visible expertise.
Muluneh mentioned these partnerships are meant to do greater than enhance the sport. She needs worldwide specialists to switch technical data to African builders, permitting the mission to retain extra of its aggressive edge.
“Knowledge is the biggest asset right now. Knowledge and access,” she mentioned. “You know, the African market always deals with the brain drain, where knowledgeable people leave the continent to build somewhere else. This time, we’ll do it the other way around, where we bring knowledge into the continent to build here.”
Rise of Fearless attracts inspiration from Ethiopia’s victory over Italian forces on the Battle of Adwa. Its characters, environments, and visible identities replicate African cultures, an strategy Muluneh believes can assist set up an internationally recognisable leisure franchise with African possession.
“We [Africa] don’t lack talent; we lack knowledge and opportunities and people believing in us. I think that’s the biggest difference,” Muluneh mentioned. “The whole goal is for them to transfer the knowledge onto the African developers, people, team, and communities.”
The firm is now reviewing its expertise and rewriting elements of the sport’s storyline because it develops a gaming IP portfolio. Muluneh mentioned a complete technical audit is underway, after which the group hopes to relaunch an improved model of the sport. She didn’t disclose an anticipated launch date.
The enlargement additionally comes as Africa’s gaming market continues to develop. According to Carry1st and Newzoo, Africa is expected to reach about 406 million gamers by 2026, as cell phone utilization expands.
But the rising market has not eradicated the difficulties African recreation builders face. Limited entry to financing, uneven infrastructure, fragmented fee programs, and a scarcity of dependable market information proceed to constrain studios looking for to attain paying audiences throughout a number of international locations.
Muluneh acknowledged that monetising video games throughout Africa stays significantly tough as a result of fee infrastructure and client behaviour differ significantly between markets. Those challenges will turn into extra urgent as Rise of Fearless seeks to convert downloads into recurring engagement and income to break even.
“Maybe 80% of our work will be figuring out if we can get [the game] monetised throughout the whole continent, and not just the big markets,” she mentioned. “Some countries are adaptive to it. Some are not. So it will remain a challenge.”
