• Egypt-based gaming marketplace GamesBandy has received a $40,000 grant from Taqadam, a Mena startup accelerator, four months after GamesBandy received Seed funding from Flat6Labs and Tamkeen.

• Under this deal, GamesBandy will also receive six months of guidance and development from Taqadam.

• Founded in 2020 by Abdulrahman Aboshamah, GamesBandy is a gaming platform that offers features such as trading accounts, in-game items, or virtual currencies.

• GamesBandy will use the grant to expand its platform to support more games, expand geographically, and grow its user base.

Press release:

GamesBandy received a $40,000 grant from Taqadam, a Mena startup accelerator helping innovators push the boundaries of what is possible for their gamer marketplace platform. Taqadam will also spend six months guiding and developing the company through mentorship, zero-equity funding, and training. The grant comes just a couple of months after GamesBandy received seed funding from Flat6labs and Tamkeen. 

In 2020, the video games market was worth over $90 billion. The market is forecast to grow at a rate of 2.29 per cent annually through 2024. Players spent a record $4.5 billion on immersive games in 2020, and the trend is not slowing down anytime soon.

Egypt-based company GamesBandy now offers a unique solution to one of gaming’s largest problems, buying and selling in-game items and accounts. When in-games items first launched in the gaming industry, players immediately started trading items. It was easy to trade an item you didn’t need for one that you did. With the advent of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), trading increased dramatically. Many players turned to sell in-game items for in-game money or real money.

The problem with trading in-game items is that it has primarily taken place on places like Discord servers, or similar chat-based platforms, which offer no protection for the seller or buyer. Many people found that they were robbed of all in-game items from their inventory. There have been several cases in which theft was prosecuted.

GamesBandy is the solution to virtual theft, providing a safe, secure platform for both buyers and sellers to trade or sell in-game items in the Mena region. The platform allows users to transact with each other safely and provides trust and validity to purchases and sales. GamesBandy receives a commission on sales.

The startup is quickly rising in the gaming marketplace due to the security of the platform and the offered features such as trading accounts, in-game items, or virtual currency. Games can also sell high-level accounts to games that do not want to start at the beginning of a game.

“We are excited and grateful for the funding and grants from Taqadam,” said Abdulrahman Aboshamah, founder of GamesBandy. “Early innovation is vital and we hope to have a great impact on the gaming community.”

GamesBandy plans to use funds to expand its platform to support more games, expand geographically, and grow the user base.