Investment opportunities in MENA: "From an investor perspective this is the best time to be deploying by far"

The Dubai Game Expo Summit powered by Pocket Gamer Connects returns on May 7th to 8th 2025, offering a chance to gain insights into the world’s fastest-growing games market, MENA.

Check out more stories from PocketGamer.biz's MENA Month special, where we interview the top companies and delve into the investment landscape, right here.

"I think most investors are sheep. They invest only in what’s trendy and hot and hyped," says Holodeck Ventures CEO Paul Dawalibi.

"Because the metaverse went away, gaming lost some of its lustre."

He shared this perspective and more on a panel at the Dubai GameExpo Summit powered by Pocket Gamer Connects in 2024, as part of a discussion on investments and venture capital in the MENA region.

Panellists also included Triple Dragon co-founder Pieter Van der Pijl, JetSynthesys CEO Anuj Tandon, Gem Capital managing director Kirill Gurskiy and GameFounders co-founder Kadri Harma.

"For more traditional games companies it’s been very dry - maybe the toughest market for traditional gaming companies ever," Dawalibi added. "From an investor perspective, this is the best time to be deploying by far."

Seeds, stories and sophistication

During the discussion, Gurskiy commented that VC investments have entered a low point with the only exception being AI. He noted that companies had been struggling to land deals around the Series A stage in the MENA region, with investments at this stage at their lowest since 2020.

Pre-seed and seed rounds are seeing growth, however, and late-stage rounds also continue to do well in the region. Overall, this means that the number of deals is up, but those in the middle stages are "trapped".

Van der Pijl argued that while M&A activity is up, those numbers should be broken down into strategic industry M&A versus "private equity companies passing one company to another".

"It’s important that the investors ‘get’ your game - that when you’re pitching it, they ask questions that you find insightful," added Harma.

"When you’re selecting for an investor you should actually check, are they chasing trends? What is it they can give to you? How steadfast are they in their path?"

As for mobile investments in the MENA region, Tandon made note of well-known monetisation mechanics and "sophisticated" spenders.

He suggested that though mobile games have entered a "very, very tough phase" in terms of investment, the platform is still relevant in emerging markets like the Middle East and India.

"There are consumers who want local stories, who are open to new things," he said.

Harma commented: "Everything is cyclical, I think. It’s maybe gone a bit from mobile to PC rather than the other way around, but I think this is all a rather normal part of the development cycle."

During the Dubai GameExpo Summit powered by PGC 2025 we'll be hosting The Investment Summit, welcoming a host of expert speakers to discuss the funding landscape in MENA, as well as connecting developers, publishers and investors together for potential deal-making.