Merak Capital on investor expectancies and taking MENA sport studios international

• Merak Capital says imaginative and prescient plus execution set Exel’s first cohort except for 300+ candidates.
• The company seems to be at workforce energy, marketplace doable and scalability when making an investment in startups.
• Exel’s $300k investments are ‘catalytic’ finances designed to free up expansion and draw in additional capital.
• Exel is open to African sport studios, seeing robust doable in cross-regional collaboration.
• Relocating to Saudi Arabia provides startups direct get right of entry to to mentors, buyers, and a fast-growing gaming

Pocket Gamer Connects Jordan returns on November eighth and ninth, 2025, providing a possibility to realize insights into the arena’s fastest-growing video games marketplace, MENA.

As a part of our MENA protection and run-up to the development, we stuck up with Merak Capital VP of innovation platform and head of Exel via Merak Faisal Sedrani, who mentioned the accelerator’s first cohort, not unusual founder errors and the affect of $300,000 catalytic investment.

PocketGamer.biz: Out of over 300 candidates, you decided on 17 startups within the first cohort. What stood out about those groups?

Faisal Sedrani: What inspired us maximum used to be the mix of imaginative and prescient and execution. Most of the decided on groups introduced now not best creativity of their sport ideas but additionally a transparent figuring out of find out how to construct sustainable companies.

All through the bootcamp, they demonstrated each their industry features and their dedication to this system, appearing us they may stability daring concepts with traction, marketplace consciousness, and flexibility.

Are you able to take us during the variety procedure? What does Merak search for when making an investment in a startup? And what’s a not unusual mistake you spot gaming founders make when pitching to buyers?

Our procedure blends each qualitative and quantitative measures. We assess workforce energy, marketplace doable, scalability, and technical execution. We additionally imagine how founders means monetisation and long-term sustainability, now not simply the product itself.

A not unusual mistake we see is founders focusing completely at the sport’s ingenious imaginative and prescient with out tying it to the economic aspect. Buyers wish to know the way the sport aligns with marketplace call for, how it’s going to draw in and retain customers, and the way the industry will generate income. Creativity issues, however with no transparent go-to-market and monetisation plan, it’s difficult to persuade buyers.

Now that the primary cohort has graduated, what courses did Merak remove that can form the second one and 3rd cohorts? And what do you want extra buyers understood about backing gaming ventures within the Heart East?

One key lesson used to be the affect of adapted mentorship. Startups complex quicker when steerage matched their level and style, so in upcoming cohorts we’re constructing much more structured and specialized fortify. We additionally noticed that international distribution stays a significant hurdle for regional groups, which is why we’re strengthening global partnerships to lend a hand founders scale past native markets.

For buyers, the takeaway is apparent: gaming within the Heart East isn’t a distinct segment; it is without doubt one of the fastest-growing leisure markets international. Supporting ventures right here manner tapping into a tender, digital-native inhabitants with international ambitions, and the chance is a long way better than maximum realise.

What’s distinctive concerning the startups you’re seeing from the Heart East in comparison to the ones from different areas? Is it larger use of AI, a focal point on sure genres, or one thing else completely?

What makes Heart Jap startups distinctive is their skill to mix international requirements with native storytelling. Many studios are weaving regional tradition and narratives into their video games, developing content material that feels each unique and globally interesting.

We additionally see a powerful center of attention on mobile-first stories, reflecting the area’s demographics, and increasing adoption of AI gear that accelerate manufacturing and personalise gameplay. The result’s a wave of innovation that feels distinct from different markets.

$300,000 is a significant sum, however in sport building phrases it could vanish temporarily. How did you land on that determine, and the way is Exel making sure startups don’t stall out after the preliminary accelerator investment?

The $300,000 funding is supposed to be catalytic, now not symbolic. It provides founders the runway to construct a powerful prototype or hit key milestones that place them for follow-on investment.

However capital by itself isn’t sufficient, so Exel additionally supplies structured mentorship, marketplace steerage, and get right of entry to to investor networks. The objective is that by the point founders graduate, they’re now not best funded but additionally able for the following level of expansion.

Past simply video games, you’ve subsidized different platforms and gear. For your view, what sort of innovation do you assume MENA is very best located to steer globally?

MENA is very best located to steer globally in spaces the place its strengths align with pressing international wishes, in particular AI-driven building platforms, scalable cloud products and services, and electronic community-building applied sciences.

The area’s mobile-first economic system, mixed with really extensive govt funding in electronic transformation, creates fertile flooring for breakthroughs that stretch a long way past gaming. Those inventions have the possible to form now not simply leisure, but additionally training, fintech, and endeavor on an international scale.

Are there extra partnerships within the pipeline to lend a hand sport startups scale the world over? If that is so, which of them?

Partnerships are on the core of our technique. With companions like Savvy, Huawei, the Saudi Esports Federation, and Microsoft, we’ve already constructed a powerful basis.

Taking a look forward, we’re in lively discussions with international publishers, cloud suppliers, and undertaking networks to create seamless pathways for our startups to scale the world over. The concern is to be sure that international achieve and scalability are constructed into the DNA of each startup we fortify.

Do you foresee increasing Exel to welcome studios from Africa into the accelerator? And can those studios want to relocate to the Heart East?

The Exel Gaming Accelerator is open to skill from all over the world, and we’ve already welcomed startups from Egypt along Saudi and regional groups. We’re particularly enthusiastic about the creativity rising from Africa and spot robust doable for cross-regional collaboration.

As a part of this system, startups are requested to relocate to Saudi Arabia, embedding themselves in one of the most fastest-growing gaming markets globally.

This relocation isn’t with reference to geography; it provides founders direct get right of entry to to mentors, buyers, and companions whilst positioning them on the middle of a hastily increasing ecosystem. For lots of, this has been a turning level in unlocking doorways and alternatives that merely didn’t exist somewhere else.

Regardless of its expansion, some view the area as probably the most complicated markets. What do you assume wishes to switch for MENA to develop into a real powerhouse in gaming, on par with areas like China or the United States?

The area’s subsequent bounce will come from two shifts: more potent infrastructure and a extra forward-looking funding mindset. We’d like persevered funding in distribution, publishing, and fee methods adapted to MENA’s realities. 

On the similar time, buyers will have to start to deal with gaming as a significant, scalable business that sits on the intersection of tradition, generation, and highbrow belongings. With those components in position, MENA has the entire components to face along the United States and China as an international gaming powerhouse.

Be told extra concerning the MENA video games marketplace at Pocket Gamer Connects Aqaba on November eighth to ninth, 2025.