885 Capital, a UAE-based investment firm founded by the entrepreneurs Sudeep Ramnani and Jai Mahtani, resists categorisation. It has interests in sports, technology and real estate: what seems to tie them together is a set of convictions about the direction in which the world is travelling and what the opportunities are.
As artificial intelligence becomes more integral to work and life itself, the firm foresees a time where consumers will have more time for leisure. It is making a bet that they will put more value on certain experiences.
And as artificial content becomes more abundant, 885 Capital is wagering that consumers will want authentic, non-replicable experiences.
“Live sports and live experiences can’t really be substituted,” co-founder Ramnani points out to African Business. It is this conviction that underpins 885 Capital’s substantial exposure to sports, not simply as entertainment but as a durable asset class.
Globally, the business of sports is undergoing what Ramnani describes as inflection points, particularly in how content is distributed. Historically, sports rights were negotiated country by country, broadcaster by broadcaster. Today, “you have the likes of Netflix entering live sports rights, and you have these global platforms,” he says, alongside a shift from legacy broadcast infrastructure to smart and connected devices.
This transformation opens multiple routes to market. A sports property may partner with a global streamer, develop its own direct-to-consumer platform, or build hybrid models that prioritise fan relationships. Crucially, this shift is also redefining monetisation. In particular for “challenger sports” that offer new formats in competition with traditional properties, “it might be less about just getting that big media rights deal,” Ramnani says, “and more about building a direct relationship with a fan, working out innovative ways to directly monetise by creating value for sponsors.” One example in the firm’s portfolio is Baller League – a six-a-side, influencer-driven football competition that has deliberately avoided traditional media rights revenue.
The firm says that even with no media rights revenue it is close to profitability, with exponential growth in revenue.
The model is sponsorship-led, but with strict discipline. “The founder is very careful about which sponsors it works with to make sure that that adds value to the brand,” Ramnani says. By holding out for partners such as Nike and O2, Baller League has avoided what he described as “selling its soul.” Instead, “it’s created this halo effect, and that has resonated with viewers.”
If Baller League reflects innovation at the format level, 885 Capital’s investment in the Professional Fighters League (PFL) represents a larger platform bet. Mixed martial arts (MMA) is widely perceived as dominated by the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship). The firm sees room for a credible second global player.
“I don’t think it’s a winner-takes-all market,” Ramnani says. “Globally, I think there are so many opportunities in international markets, but even in the United States. I think there’s an opportunity for PFL to create value.”
Thus 885 Capital is currently the largest shareholder in PFL globally, first investing in December 2024 and increasing its stake in early 2025.
“That was a testament to our belief in the new leadership,” Ramnani explains, noting that “PFL’s had a bumpy road, but that’s often the case with startups.”
The excitement of the crowd
Africa has become central to that growth story. In 2025 PFL launched PFL Africa, staging four events across the continent, an unprecedented move for a major MMA organisation. “That was a first on the continent,” Ramnani says, recalling how the inaugural event in Cape Town combined global MMA superstars with emerging African talent. The response was immediate. “You could see the excitement of the crowd and the appreciation of both the global talent, but also this concept of local heroes,” he recalls.
Enthusiasm at 885 Capital for Africa’s sports market is driven as much by pragmatism as it is by optimism. While football dominates, the firm believes other sports may be better positioned for domestic league success. Basketball, MMA and small-sided football require less space – which could drive participation on a continent where investment in sport infrastructure is hard to come by.
But infrastructure remains critical. Successful sports ecosystems require more than talent: venues, broadcast capability and public-sector support. In Benin, where the PFL Africa final was held, the infrastructure was present and the government was willing to support the project. In Rwanda Helios, an investment firm and co-investor in PFL Africa, has shown an ability to build infrastructure quickly.
Consolidation among pay-TV operators, such as Canal Plus’s acquisition of MultiChoice, may increase broadcaster bargaining power, but 885 Capital does not see this as existential. “Sports properties are looking for a more nuanced approach to the distribution of their content,” Ramnani argues.
A broader mandate
While sports is a prominent pillar, 885 Capital’s mandate is broader. In technology, “we’ve built technology companies from zero to one,” Ramnani says, adding that the experience informs its capital
allocation. “If you’re going to spend your personal time on something, you want to spend time on projects that could have infinite scale,” which has led to investments in “incredibly challenging spaces from neuro-engineering to food tech and beyond.”
The focus on Africa might have something to do with Ramnani’s own origin story. Having spent part of his childhood in West Africa, he moved to the continent to start his entrepreneurial journey after studying economics at the London School of Economics.
“This was around the time of the global financial crisis and instead of pursuing a career in finance, I decided to head to west Africa to build something from scratch,” he recalls. In his own telling, the draw he felt and the success he had, initially in consumer goods and more traditional industries, drew on his roots in the Sindhi community which, displaced by the 1947 partitioning of India and Pakistan, has since built dispersed networks around the world, including in West Africa.
Eventually, Ramnani says, he decided to “focus on building technology businesses across media and fintech”. He again found success as one of the founders of PalmPay, a mobile money service.
Another initiative was Sporty Group, a sports gaming platform that is popular on the continent. Following this he teamed up with Mahtani, who is also his cousin, to start 885 Capital. The idea, he explained, was to support other entrepreneurs on a similar journey, something he had already been doing in his personal capacity. “We wanted to formalise it under an investment brand, bringing together a team of professionals to be able to invest in a more structured and disciplined way.”
Unapologetically founder-focused
“We don’t have a specific timeline,” Ramnani says of the firm’s investment horizon. It is unapologetically founder-focused: “a single individual can have an outsized contribution… One single person can account for up to one hundred times the contribution of an ordinary performer.”
The firm actively seeks founders who may appear unconventional. “Exceptional individuals that are almost slightly delusional in terms of what they think can be achieved,” he says, are often the ones capable of building category-defining companies.
Ultimately, 885 Capital’s portfolio reflects a belief that while technology will reshape almost everything, some things – live sport, human connection, shared experiences – will only grow more valuable. As the firm sees it, the future belongs to platforms that combine scale with authenticity and ambition with patience. Or, as Ramnani put it, investing is about backing “projects that have infinite ambition” and the people capable of turning that ambition into reality.