Rise of Fearless has raised US$1 million from Epic Edges Capital through a Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE), several outlets reported on 3 November 2026. The free-to-play mobile battle royale is built around Ethiopia’s 1896 Battle of Adwa. The founder says the money will fund a relaunch and a wider franchise.

A SAFE is an agreement that converts into equity later, on terms set in the document. TechCabal and Condia report no valuation, and the company has not disclosed its equity terms. This article therefore gives neither.

An earlier financing did not materialise. When the game launched in April 2025, the company’s press release said it was raising US$700,000 to expand the game and move to Web3. In September 2025, founder Kanessa Muluneh told Entrepreneur MENA that the company had secured $700,000 from an undisclosed private investor. She later told TechCabal that the funds were never deployed and the arrangement was abandoned after disagreements over its terms. PocketGamer.biz reports that the new round replaces the original $700,000 target.

Muluneh told TechCabal she had financed most of the game’s development herself, and estimated spending nearly $2.8 million on development and promotion.

Under the financing arrangement, the company has one year to meet performance milestones, according to TechCabal. These include reaching 100,000 active players and completing significant technical improvements. The founder says the game has passed 15,000 downloads, with its largest player communities in Nigeria, Ethiopia and South Africa.

The company is also bringing four firms into its team: Miniboss Solutions (publishing and marketing), Trick Question Studios (franchise strategy and creative direction), IDG Intelligence (market research) and Spectra Entertainment (art and technical development). Condia reports that the founder describes these firms as service providers that hold no stake in the game and earn no royalties. StartupNews Africa does not describe them as investors.

Reports differ on timing. Condia says the founder hopes to relaunch within a couple of weeks. TechCabal says a technical audit is under way and that the founder did not disclose an expected release date.

For African studios, the founder’s account points to infrastructure as much as capital. BusinessDay and Disrupt Africa report that the company intends to use its growth to address access to reliable technology, servers and cross-border payment infrastructure. Monetisation is the harder problem. “Maybe 80% of our work will be figuring out if we can get [the game] monetised throughout the whole continent,” she told TechCabal, noting that payment infrastructure and consumer behaviour vary between markets.

Descriptions of the company’s origin differ. Its 2025 press release says Rise of Fearless was founded in 2024 by Kanessa Muluneh, “an Ethiopian-born entrepreneur living in Dubai”, and describes the company as “Based in Dubai”. PocketGamer.biz calls it UAE-based, while TechCabal, Condia and BusinessDay describe the game as African-owned. This article reports those descriptions as the sources give them.

Remco Coerman, identified in coverage as founder of Epic Edges Group, said the game had “the potential to resonate far beyond its home market”. TechCabal and BusinessDay describe Epic Edges Capital as Mauritius-based. StartupNews Africa has not independently verified that location.

Sources

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