Ethiopian gaming startup Rise of Fearless raises US$1m to scale African battle royale title

Ethiopian gaming startup Rise of Fearless has raised US$1 million in funding from advisory firm Epic Edges Capital as it looks to scale its African history-inspired battle royale mobile game.

Launched in 2025, Rise of Fearless offers an African take on the battle royale genre, drawing narrative inspiration from Ethiopia’s victory over Italian forces at the Battle of Adwa in 1896. The game’s characters, environments, hairstyles and attire are designed to reflect African identities, offering an alternative to the Western-centric narratives that have long dominated mainstream gaming.

Free-to-play on the Apple App Store and Google Play, the game has surpassed 15,000 downloads to date, with its largest player communities in Nigeria, Ethiopia and South Africa.

The previously bootstrapped startup’s new funding, structured as a SAFE, will be used to invest in talent, technology, infrastructure, marketing and community-building, as Rise of Fearless looks to expand its audience beyond its existing markets.

“The launch of Rise of Fearless filled a gap in the gaming space, but it has also forced us to think beyond game downloads, shifting our focus towards a much wider African gaming ecosystem where African intellectual ownership and talent development are key,” said founder Kanessa Muluneh. “As a bootstrapped company, this investment is pivotal to our ambitions and the future of African gaming.”

Muluneh said the startup also plans to use its growth to help tackle some of the structural challenges facing African gaming companies, including access to reliable technology, servers and cross-border payment infrastructure.

Remco Coerman, founder of Epic Edges Group, said Rise of Fearless was the kind of ambitious, culturally-rooted IP with the potential to resonate far beyond its home market.

“We believe there is a significant opportunity for African creators to build globally relevant gaming experiences that reflect the continent’s stories, identities and talent,” he said.

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