# Top 50 Sports Angel Investors in Middle East in June 2026

## Kushal Shah
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 3
- Stages: Seed, Series B
- Focus: eSports, Video, Gaming

Kushal Shah is a Senior Partner at Roland Berger's Dubai office and a Managing Partner for the Middle East. Prior to joining Roland Berger, he spent 12 years with a leading consultancy in London and Dubai. He studied Economics at Cambridge in the UK and he is a certified Chartered Accountant.

## Sertaç Özinal
- Type: Angel
- Location: Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Angel, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Financial Services, Internet, Gaming

Sertaç Özinal

## Nevzat Aydın
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Angel
- Focus: Internet, Software, E-Commerce

Nevzat Aydın is the CEO of Yemeksepeti.com, the first and biggest online food delivery portal in Turkey.Born in 1976 in İstanbul, Nevzat Aydın completed his secondary education at the Bursa Anatolian High School. Following his graduation from Boğaziçi University Department of Computer Engineering, he went to the United States where he receivedhis MBA at the University of San Francisco in Silicon Valley.During his stay in the United States, Aydın followed the latest developments on e-trade before he returned to Turkey in 2000 to launch his project, Yemeksepeti.com. Serving as the CEO of Yemeksepeti.com, Nevzat Aydın introduced a brand new dimension to e-trade in Turkey.In 2007, Yemeksepeti.com was selected the “Endeavor Entreprenur” by Endeavor Turkey. Aydin was also selected the “Most Successful Turkish Young Entrepreneur” by the CNBC-e Business magazine in 2010 for his successful work since the foundation of Yemeksepeti.com.As the founder and CEO of Yemeksepeti.com, which celebrated its 11th anniversary in 2012, he won the first prize in 2011 in the “Male Entrepreneur of the Year” category at the “Businesspeople of the Year” survey conducted by the Ekonomist magazine among nearly 3,000 business people.Aydin is a member of the Young Entrepreneurs Supreme Board of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey, and a founding member of Galata Business Angels.Aydın was one of the 150 entrepreneurs invited from all over the world to the Entrepreneurship Summit held by US President Barack Obama on April 26-27, 2010.He was also among the speakers at the DLD (Digital-Life-Design) Conference, which is deemed as one of the world's most prestigious conferences with its content on innovation and developments in the digital world. He is also an editorial advisor of GQ Turkey, one of the 5 “dragons” of the Dragons’ Den Turkey show, and a Board Member of Trabzonspor sports club.

## Uri Levine
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Series A, Seed, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Apps, Mobile, Travel

Uri Levine - Co-Founder & Chairman @ Refundit

## Yaron Samid
- Type: Angel
- Location: Ramat Hasharon, Tel Aviv, Israel
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A
- Focus: Software, Apps, SaaS

Yaron Samid is an Israeli-American technology entrepreneur, investor, and startup community builder. Yaron is the founder of TechAviv, the 3K-member global Israeli startup founders club, and is the managing partner of TechAviv Founder Partners, a pre-seed venture fund, backed and powered by over 100 of the world’s most successful company builders.Previously, Yaron was the founder and CEO at BillGuard (Acq. by Prosper), founder & CPO at Pando (Acq. by Microsoft), and a founding board director at CloudLock (Acq. by Cisco) and Pond5.Yaron lives in Tel Aviv with his family and is a regular guest lecturer at Stanford and Columbia Business School. He attended Technion - Israel Institute of Technology and the University of Maryland.

## Semiramis Kulak
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Gaming, eSports, Fantasy Sports

Semiramis Kulak

## Rıfat Elhadef
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Angel
- Focus: eSports, Video Games, Social Media

Rıfat Elhadef

## Noam Hachmon
- Type: Angel
- Location: Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Pre-Seed
- Focus: SaaS, Sports, E-Learning

Noam Hachmon

## Kaan Karapınar
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Pre-Seed
- Focus: Gaming, eSports, Fantasy Sports

Kaan Karapınar

## Mustafa Vardalı
- Type: Angel
- Location: Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Angel, Series A
- Focus: Apps, Fitness, Software

Mustafa Vardalı is the CMO & Founder at Teknasyon.

## Ozan Çağlar İnaç
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Apps, Fitness, Health Care

Ozan Çağlar İnaç

## Avi Meir
- Type: Angel
- Location: Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A
- Focus: SaaS, Software, Gaming

Avi Meir is the Co-Founder & CEO of TravelPerk, a
ground-breaking business travel platform offering
companies of any size a one-stop-shop to book &
manage all their travel in one place. TravelPerk is one
and one of the fastest-growing tech startups in Europe
and raised $14m from some of the world's leading
investors including SparkCapital, famous for Twitter,
Trello and Slack• Prior to founding TravelPerk, Avi was Co-Founder of
Hotel Ninjas, which was acquired by Booking.com in
2014, and VP Product at Budgetplaces.com, which
was acquired by Palamon in 2011• Avi is started writing code when he was 12 years old,
holds an MBA from IESE, and is a frequent speaker
about travel technology in industry events• He lived in three countries and speaks English,
French, Spanish, Hebrew and Klingon

## Moshe Rafiah
- Type: Angel
- Location: London, England, United Kingdom
- Relevant deals: 1
- Focus: Travel, Leisure, Tourism

Moshe Rafiah is CEO & Founder at Travelfusion. He attended his education at Boston University.

## Demirhan Büyüközcü
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Angel
- Focus: eSports, Video Games, Social Media

Demirhan Büyüközcü - Co-Founder @ Onedio

## Avishai Abrahami
- Type: Angel
- Location: New York, New York, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A
- Focus: Software, Information Technology, Apps

Avishai Abrahami is our Co-Founder, has served as our Chief Executive Officer since September 2010 and was our Co-Chief Executive Officer and a director since October 2006. From 2004 to 2006, Avishai was the Vice President of Strategic Alliances at Arel Communications & Software Ltd., a private Israeli company specializing in communicationtechnology. In 1998 he co-founded Sphera Corporation, a private company which develops software for managing data centers, and he served as its Chief Technology Officer from 1998 until 2000 and its Vice President of Product Marketing from 2000 until 2003. In 1993, he co-founded AIT Ltd., a private Israeli software company, and served as its Chief Technology Officer until the company's sale in 1997. Avishai served in the Israeli Defense Forces' elite computer intelligence unit from 1990 until 1992.

## Shimon Eckhouse
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Medical, Biotechnology, Fitness

Shimon Eckhouse

## Aaron Stone
- Type: Angel
- Location: Washington, District of Columbia, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A
- Focus: Health Care, Mobile, Sports

Aaron Stone is based out of New York and is the Senior Partner of Apollo Global Management. Aaron previously worked at AMC Entertainment as a Director. Aaron Stone attended the Harvard College.

## Ali Rampurwala
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed
- Focus: FinTech, Blockchain, Cryptocurrency

15 years of experience in private equity, venture capital, investment banking, corporate strategy, angel investing, and business development having an MBA from the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University, USA and being a CAIA Charterholder.

## Erdem Gezer
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Angel
- Focus: eSports, Video Games, Social Media

Erdem Gezer

## Ercan Ergül
- Type: Angel
- Location: Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Series A
- Focus: Soccer, Sports, eSports

Ercan Ergül is a Managing Director with SEAF, the manager of Southeast Europe Equity Fund II, L.P. (“SEEF”), a US$320 million private equity fund with investments in Turkey, Albania and Kosovo. Ercan is also a board member of Global Investment Holding, a listed investment group based in İstanbul with operations in ports, energy and financialservices. Prior to joining SEAF, he spent his career as a private equity and investment banking professional and began his career in the corporate credit group of Citibank in Turkey. Ercan received his undergraduate degree from Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey, and a Masters of Business Administration with concentration in Finance from the University of Florida.

## Oren Zeev
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Series B, Series A, Seed
- Focus: Software, Internet, FinTech

Oren Zeev is the Founder of and one of the two main early backers respectively, a former board member of Zeev lives in San Francisco, California, United States.

## Nimrod Cohen
- Type: Angel
- Location: Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A
- Focus: Artificial Intelligence, Software, SaaS

Nimrod Cohen is the Managing Partner of TAU Ventures. He previously worked at Hapoel Ramat-Gan as a Chairman. Nimrod Cohen attended Reichman University (IDC Herzliya).

## Selin Kiper
- Type: Angel
- Location: Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Series A
- Focus: Soccer, Sports, eSports

Selin Kiper

## Orkun Saitoğlu
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Series A
- Focus: Soccer, Sports, eSports

Born in Istanbul in 1982, Orkun Saitoğlu graduated from Galatasaray High School and then studied Computer Engineering at Montpellier University and completed his master's degree at Paris Pierre-Marie Curie University in Paris. In the second year of his graduate study, he became part of the team of B2B, B2C sites in the TUI group and startedhis career as a Software Engineer. During the first years of his career, he supported the design and integration of PayPal solution in France and the Benelux and later on became a part of business development and sales team during Scandinavian, Turkish, Middle Eastern and Russian market expansion. Orkun, later on became a part of a global team managing PayPal’s relationship with startups against Stripe and Braintree competition. In 2014, after living abroad for 14 years he decided to move back to Turkey to establish his own startup company. It is during this period that Orkun met with iyzico’s co-founders Barbaros Özbuğutu and Tahsin Isın to become the COO of iyzico knowing that the company would emerge as the payment champion of the region. Orkun is currently in charge of all of iyzico’s sales, marketing and operations teams.

## Gigi Levy Weiss
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B
- Focus: Software, Artificial Intelligence, Apps

Gigi Levy Weiss is the General Partner at NFX. He attended Tel Aviv University and the Finance Department - Kellogg School of Management.

## Hande Enes
- Type: Angel
- Location: Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Angel, Seed, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Software, E-Commerce, Social Media

Hande Enes

## İzzet Zakuto
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Apps, Music, AgTech

İzzet Zakuto

## Andrey Belozerov
- Type: Angel
- Location: Moscow, Moscow City, Russian Federation
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Apps, EdTech, FinTech

Andrey Belozerov is an entrepreneur and investor. Expert in the field of digital technologies and digital transformation, co-founder Digital Disrupt investment club, United Nations Development Program expert.

## Marc Rowan
- Type: Angel
- Location: New York, New York, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Series A, Private Equity
- Focus: Financial Services, FinTech, Finance

Mr. Rowan is the CEO and a co-founder of Apollo Global Management, LLC and Managing Partner of, inter alia, Apollo Management, L.P.  Mr. Rowan currently serves on the boards of directors of Apollo Global Management, LLC, Athene Holding Ltd., Caesars Entertainment Corp. and Caesars Acquisition Co. He has previously served on the boards of directorsof the general partner of AP Alternative Assets, L.P., AMC Entertainment, Inc., Beats Music, Cablecom GmbH, Culligan Water Technologies, Inc., Caesars Entertainment Operating Co., Countrywide PLC, Furniture Brands International, Mobile Satellite Ventures, LLC, National Cinemedia, Inc., National Financial Partners, Inc., New World Communications, Inc., Norwegian Cruise Lines, Quality Distribution, Inc., Samsonite Corporation, SkyTerra Communications Inc., Unity Media SCA, Vail Resorts, Inc. and Wyndham International, Inc.Mr. Rowan is also active in charitable activities. He is a founding member and Chairman of the Youth Renewal Fund and a member of the Board of Overseers of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. Mr. Rowan also serves on the boards of directors of Jerusalem Online and the New York City Police Foundation. Mr. Rowan graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business with a BS and an MBA in Finance.

## Barbaros Özbugutu
- Type: Angel
- Location: Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A
- Focus: Retail, Soccer, Sports

Barbaros Serdar Özbugutu worked for FIRSTDATA, and later moved to KLARNA. In 2013, he officially launched Iyzico with his Co-Founder Tahsin Isin. Iyzico is transforming the payment processing experience for businesses through its bank-integrated, fraud-protected payment platform tailored to the nuances of the Turkish market.(https://www.iyzico.com/en)

## Hakan Bas
- Type: Angel
- Location: Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Angel
- Focus: E-Commerce, Marketplace, Apps

Hakan Bas - Founder & CEO @ Ace Games

## Cem Ortabaş
- Type: Angel
- Location: Izmir, Izmir, Turkey
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series C
- Focus: Gaming, Mobile, Fitness

Cem Ortabaş is a Co-Founder at HubX. He attended Koç University during 2012-2017.

## Jochen Engert
- Type: Angel
- Location: Munich, Bayern, Germany
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A
- Focus: Software, Rental, Travel

Jochen Engert - Founder & CEO @ FlixBus

## Brad Kotansky
- Type: Angel
- Location: Paradise Valley, Arizona, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Series A, Seed, Series B
- Focus: Internet, E-Commerce, News

Brad Kotansky has always been a serial investor: while pursuing his undergraduate BComm degree at McGill University, Brad was a member of the finance club and interned at ScotiaMcLeod for a wealth advisor; upon graduation, his passion for investing led him to Wall Street where he spent over a decade working as an investment banker, and later as ananalyst and portfolio manager for various hedge funds; in 2012, he founded Prickly Pear Ventures, a real estate development firm in Phoenix, Arizona, to capture opportunities from fallout of the Real Estate crisis of 2009 (the portfolio of single-family homes he amassed was ultimately sold to ARPI, a publicly traded REIT in 2013). To this day, Brad continues to be very active in the angel and seed investing world having invested in companies such as Coupang, Synchtank, Playsight, New Hive and Jingle Punks. But one thing Brad had always wanted to do was start and operate a business of his own. Ari’s business plan was tweaked, and together the pair embarked on a search for a technical founder.

## Moshe Gaon
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Convertible Note
- Focus: Advertising, SaaS, Music

Business entrepreneur and investor in startups. For the past 20 years developer of new initiatives and ideas. CEO, Chairman of companies, political strategist and advertising expert. Lead public opinion campaigns for people and issues from breast cancer, to national elections to the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. Founding Partner atmybulb.vcOwner of the Gaon Holding Group; Executive Director in the group's companies, focusing on development and marketing products and services for the global Water Smart Grid. Member of the AquaAgro Fund Investment committee, a 50 Million dollar Israeli Venture Capital Fund, focused only on developing innovative water and agriculture technologies, as well as other innovative clean technologies.

## Sir Ronald Cohen
- Type: Angel
- Location: London, England, United Kingdom
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Series A, Seed
- Focus: Health Care, Financial Services, Apps

Ronald Cohen is Chairman of the Global Social Impact Investment Steering Group and The Portland Trust. He is a co-founder director of Social Finance UK (2007-11), Social Finance USA, and Social Finance Israel, and of Big Society Capital. He was co-founder Chair of Bridges Ventures (2002-2012).He chaired the Social Impact Investment Taskforceestablished under the UK’s presidency of the G8 (2013-2015), the Social Investment Task Force (2000-2010) and the Commission on Unclaimed Assets (2005-2007). In 2012 he received the Rockefeller Innovation Award for innovation in social finance.He co-founded and was Executive Chairman of Apax Partners Worldwide LLP (1972-2005). He was a founder director and Chairman of the British Venture Capital Association and a founder director of the European Venture Capital Association.He is a graduate of Oxford University, where he was President of the Oxford Union. He is an Honorary Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School to which he was awarded a Henry Fellowship.He is a member of the Board of Dean’s Advisors at Harvard Business School and Vice-Chairman of Ben Gurion University. He is a former director of the Harvard Management Company and the University of Oxford Investment Committee. He is a former member of the Harvard University Board of Overseers (2007-2013), former Trustee of the British Museum (2005-2012) and a former trustee of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (2005-2011).In 2007, Sir Ronald published: “The Second Bounce of the Ball – Turning Risk into Opportunity”.

## Sercan Akkaş
- Type: Angel
- Location: Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Apps, SaaS, Fruit

Sercan Akkas serves as Product Director at Yemeksepeti.

## Mustafa Emre Gündüz
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Pre-Seed
- Focus: Gaming, eSports, Fantasy Sports

Mustafa Emre Gündüz

## Kaan Kayabalı
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Angel
- Focus: eSports, Video Games, Social Media

Kaan Kayabali, a Turkish entrepreneur, is the founder and CEO of Onedio Media and Internet Services Inc.

## Kaan Kural
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Angel
- Focus: eSports, Video Games, Social Media

Kaan Kural

## Fethi Ahmet Özbulut
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Pre-Seed
- Focus: Gaming, eSports, Fantasy Sports

Fethi Ahmet Özbulut

## İrfan Ündevli
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Pre-Seed
- Focus: Gaming, eSports, Fantasy Sports

İrfan Ündevli

## Marc Merrill
- Type: Angel
- Location: Los Angeles, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A
- Focus: Gaming, Video Games, Media and Entertainment

Marc Merrill Co-founded of Riot Games, Inc. in 2006 and serves as its President. Marc Merrill served as Chief Marketing Officer of Riot Games, Inc. He was corporate marketing executive in the exciting world of Business-to-Business media at Advanstar Communications. He has marketing, leadership, and elite gaming skills including Schedule Mastery +9.He held roles in finance with Merrill Lynch and US Bancorp.

## Daniel Krauss
- Type: Angel
- Location: Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Software, Rental, Information Technology

Daniel Krauss was born in 1983 in Neheim-Hüsten.He studied Economic Sciences at the FernUniversität Hagen. Daniel has generally worked in the IT area for Marquardt GmbH, IFS AB and Siemens AG. Before co-founding Flixbus in 2011, he was a Technical Account Manager at Microsoft for three years. Now Daniel is CIO of Flixbus, which was able toestablish Europe’s largest intercity bus network.

## Dylan Collins
- Type: Angel
- Location: London, England, United Kingdom
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A
- Focus: SaaS, eSports, Messaging

Dylan Collins is one of Europe’s most experienced digital media entrepreneurs, focusing on games, kids entertainment and the technology which underpins them.He is CEO of SuperAwesome, the #1 kid-safe brand engagement platform. SuperAwesome works with the biggest kids entertainment brands in the world including Disney, Hasbro, Warner Bros andActivision ensuring they connect safely with over a quarter of a billion kids each month.An active investor and advisor across both kids media and technology companies, he is Venture Partner with Hoxton Ventures and sits on the board of the UK’s top-rated marketing technology agency, Potato and Brown Bag Films, Europe’s leading kids animation studio. Previously Collins founded Jolt Online Gaming which became one of the pioneering social games publishers in Europe. Jolt was acquired by GameStop (NYSE: GME), the largest video games retailer in the world in 2009 to spearhead their digital media strategy.As founder and CEO of DemonWare in 2003, he led the company to become the leading online games technology firm in the global console games market. In 2007, DemonWare was acquired by Activision Blizzard (NYSE: ATVI), the world’s biggest video games publisher and is now the multiplayer backbone of the billion-dollar Call of Duty franchise.

## Danny Grander
- Type: Angel
- Location: Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A
- Focus: Software, SaaS, Developer Tools

Entrepreneur (Snyk), Angel Investor, CTF Player (@pastenctf)

## Khalid AlTawil
- Type: Angel
- Location: Riyadh, Ar Riyad, Saudi Arabia
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Gaming, eSports, Rental

Khalid AlTawil is a Board Member at Saudi Chemcial Company.

## Mustafa Sevinç
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Angel
- Focus: Apps, Fitness, Health Care

Mustafa Sevinç is the CFO and Founder at Teknasyon.

## Danny Leshem
- Type: Angel
- Location: Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Angel
- Focus: SaaS, B2B, Cyber Security

INT3 (Managing Partner); Kidaro (co-founder, acq. MSFT); OpenRest (co-founder, acq. WIX); angel investor.

## Wes Schwalje
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Angel
- Focus: FinTech, Financial Services, Information Technology

Operator at nexus of policy, tech, and dev, investor, advised 8 unicorns on MENAP entry/scale-up, support Big Tech / startups to get along with govt