Rise of Fearless raises $1m via SAFE, ditching $700k target

UAE-based mobile gaming platform Rise of Fearless has raised $1 million from Epic Edges Capital through a Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE), exceeding its original $700,000 funding target by roughly 40%. The deal, dated November 3, 2026, ends a stretch in which the company deliberately kept bootstrapping while hunting for an investor it could actually work with.

That's the operational headline: a $1 million cheque, structured as a SAFE rather than a priced equity round, arriving after a year of self-funding. For a mobile gaming platform in the MENA region, the instrument matters as much as the amount — a SAFE defers valuation negotiations, which often suits early-stage gaming companies whose revenue models aren't yet proven.

Why the founder walked away from $700,000

Founder Kanessa Muluneh had publicly announced a $700,000 fundraising goal last year. Then she held off. The company kept the lights on with its own money while she screened potential partners for something more than capital.

"We actually decided to move away from our original $700,000 fundraising target and continued bootstrapping the project until we found the right investment partner," Muluneh told PocketGamer.biz.

She was blunt about her criteria. "I've always been selective about who I bring into the business. For me, an investor should bring more than money. They need to understand the vision, respect what we're building, and allow us to maintain our creative direction."

Muluneh added: "It took time to find the right partnership, but I believe that was important. I didn't want to raise capital just for the sake of raising capital. I wanted the right people involved."

In practical terms, that means Rise of Fearless traded speed for control. The company spent roughly a year self-funded rather than accepting terms that might have constrained its creative decisions — a trade-off many studio founders weigh when investor money comes with strings attached.

What does the money actually change?

The $1 million is earmarked for five areas, according to the company:

• Team growth — expanding headcount
• Technology — platform development
• Infrastructure — underlying systems and scaling capacity
• Marketing — user acquisition and visibility
• Community building — player engagement and retention

That's a fairly standard allocation for a mobile platform at this stage: people first, product second, growth third. What the company hasn't detailed is a timeline for the spending or specific hiring targets, so the pace of expansion remains an open question.

The MENA context

The deal lands in a region actively courting games investment. MENA has become one of the faster-growing mobile gaming markets, and regional investors are increasingly willing to back local platforms rather than only importing titles. A UAE company securing seven figures from a dedicated capital firm fits that pattern, even if this specific round is modest by global standards — $1 million is seed-stage money almost anywhere.

For context on scale: this is not a round that buys years of runway for a large team. It's the kind of capital that funds a focused push — hiring key roles, hardening the platform, and testing whether community-led growth can work for this product.

The industry conversation continues shortly: Pocket Gamer Connects Jordan runs November 7 and 8, where MENA games investment opportunities will be on the agenda — worth watching for signals on whether deals like this become a pattern or stay one-offs.