- This system runs as a two-week digital bootcamp adopted by means of a 14-week in-person accelerator in Riyadh.
- Global firms will have to relocate to Saudi Arabia for the in-person segment, with Exel supporting the method.
- Decided on startups obtain as much as $300,000 in keeping with staff, cut up between $150,000 in money and $150,000 in strategic in-kind give a boost to.
- AI is embedded around the curriculum, from construction pipelines via to commercialisation and go-to-market technique.
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Funding company Merak Capital introduced its Exel by means of Merak Gaming Accelerator again in 2024 with kind of $82 million, concentrated on early-stage recreation studios, publishing platforms, and adjoining services and products. However how, precisely, does it paintings?
This system has run two times, graduated dozens of startups, and reopened programs in April, with as much as $300,000 in keeping with staff. But questions on fairness, eligibility, relocation, weekly construction and what precisely studios get in go back proceed to floor.
As studios around the Heart East and Africa weigh up whether or not to use for its 3rd cohort, we’ve got damaged down the construction, the cash, the commitments and the spaces studios maximum usually misunderstand.
The fund at the back of the accelerator
Exel by means of Merak is the gaming-focused accelerator arm of Saudi Arabia-based funding company Merak Capital.
This system is aligned with Saudi Arabia’s Nationwide Gaming and Esports Technique below Imaginative and prescient 2030, which means that it sits within a broader state-backed push to place the Kingdom as an international video games hub.
The fund plans to spend money on 15 to twenty startups throughout cohorts, with the mentioned purpose of manufacturing no less than 15 commercially viable video games out of this system.
What studios obtain
Decided on startups can obtain as much as $300,000 in keeping with staff, cut up flippantly between $150,000 in money and $150,000 in strategic in-kind give a boost to. The in-kind portion covers weekly mentorship from video games trade and tech veterans, get admission to to Merak’s spouse community (Savvy, Huawei, the Saudi Esports Federation and Microsoft are a number of the named companions), and structured give a boost to throughout construction, go-to-market and scaling.
In a prior interview, Exel by means of Merak CEO Faisal Sedrani described the $300,000 as “catalytic, now not symbolic.” The intent, he has mentioned, is to present studios runway to hit milestones that unencumber follow-on investment reasonably than to fund a complete manufacturing cycle.
The construction of this system
The method strikes via six stages. Name for programs opens first, adopted by means of a qualifying and choice spherical. Programs are reviewed on a rolling foundation, with the staff comparing on staff power, marketplace attainable, scalability and technical execution. Founders also are assessed on how they method monetisation and long-term sustainability, now not simply the product itself.
A two-week digital bootcamp follows for many who make it via. This segment covers preliminary onboarding, coaching and surroundings strategic objectives, and it may be controlled along present paintings commitments.
A filtering spherical comes subsequent, the place the highest performers are decided on to transport into the accelerator segment. This 14-week in-person program in Riyadh is involved in commercialisation and go-to-market technique for video games. It calls for full-time dedication from the core staff, together with the CEO and major co-founders.
Stipend, lodging and shuttle give a boost to are supplied for groups coming from out of doors Riyadh or out of doors Saudi Arabia.
Demo Day closes out the in-person segment, with startups pitching their ventures to a curated target audience of traders, stakeholders and publishers. Publish-program give a boost to continues afterwards via Merak’s community, with endured mentorship, follow-on funding pathways, and trade connections.
What a normal week seems like
Throughout the accelerator segment, the weeks persist with a constant rhythm. Founders spend time with mentors and trade professionals who’ve shipped video games and constructed studios and feature one-on-one periods with the Exel staff for direct comments. Groups run interior hurdle periods to stay supply on target and listen to from alumni and founders about what labored and what didn’t.
The time table additionally comprises hands-on workshops protecting sensible operational abilities, devoted construct time for the product itself, and pitch observe periods to organize for Demo Day. Pitching is constant all through this system, now not only a ultimate workout.
Eligibility standards
Global firms will have to relocate to Saudi Arabia for the in-person segment, with Exel supporting the relocation procedure. Native firms will have to grasp a sound Business Registration (CR) and Exel will give a boost to those that want assist obtaining one.
Studios will have to have an MVP, vertical slice or be actively within the construction level. A robust staff portfolio, talent in English, demonstrated marketplace attainable, complete determination to this system, and transparent attainable for expansion and scalability are all required.
Geographic eligibility is broader than the “MENA” label suggests. The primary two cohorts drew greater than 5,000 programs from over 70 international locations. Egyptian studios have already long gone via this system and Sedrani has showed Exel is open to African recreation studios, mentioning “robust attainable for cross-regional collaboration”. Nigerian, Kenyan, South African and different African studios are eligible to use.
Section-time founders aren’t eligible for the accelerator segment. If decided on, the expectancy is full-time dedication from the core staff.
The cohort roadmap
Exel has mapped out 4 deliberate cohorts. Cohort 1 ran in H1 2025 and has concluded. Cohort 2 ran in H2 2025 and has additionally concluded. Cohort 3 is recently taking programs and can run in H2 2026. Cohort 4 will run in H1 2027 and is, for now, the overall deliberate batch, even supposing additional cohorts are most likely past 2027.
The anticipated results
Via the tip of this system, graduating studios are anticipated to release a elegant gaming product, have a pitch deck and be funding-ready, display earnings expansion along target audience construction and key partnerships, and provide a transparent monetisation technique.
“The programme empowers you to develop your online business and it additionally means that you can determine who you might be as a founder. We can poke at your weaknesses and we will be able to make stronger your strengths, since you get started with working out who you might be,” mentioned Exel by means of Merak program marketing consultant Kelly Zmak.
AI as a core curriculum thread
AI runs throughout the curriculum as a core theme, protecting construction pipelines, go-to-market technique, commercialisation and operational tooling. Studios are anticipated to actively combine AI into their workflows and justify the selections they make round it via this system’s weekly deliverables.
“A common theme all through this system is AI,” Zmak endured. “We would like you to make use of AI with wisdom and experience, now not make choices according to lack of awareness and concern.”
Not unusual founder pitfalls
Sedrani has been candid about the commonest mistake he sees: founders pitching natural ingenious imaginative and prescient with out a business backbone. Traders at Exel wish to see how the sport ties to marketplace call for, the way it acquires and keeps customers, and the way the industry generates earnings. The accelerator is structured round transferring founders from “construction a recreation” to “construction a winning corporate”.
Programs for Cohort 3 shut on Might twenty first, 2026. The staff evaluates day-to-day on a rolling foundation, so previous programs give a boost to the danger of well timed evaluate. You’ll follow by means of the professional web page.
