UAE Investor 885 Capital Emerges as Sports Force With PFL Stake

The Professional Fighters League has a long list of well-known investors, including financial heavy-hitters Ares, Elysian Park and the Saudi-backed SURJ, as well as team owners David Blitzer, Ted Leonsis and Mark Lerner. But relatively few know of one of PFL’s most significant shareholders: 885 Capital.

The United Arab Emirates-based investment fund bought into PFL with a previously unreported direct investment in late 2024. It became one of the largest shareholders in the mixed martial arts league, putting the Donn Davis-founded organization at the top of its expanding sports portfolio.

“We’re looking for projects, in general, for which there is potential perpetually robust or even infinite demand, and that’s the case when it comes to sports, because humans are emotional and sports brings people together,” 885 Capital cofounder Sudeep Ramnani said on a video call.

Ramnani comes to sports from what originated as a series of startups in financial services. In 2011, shortly after attending the London School of Economics, the Africa-born Ramnani founded a series of fintech ventures on the continent; Paystack, one of the ventures which Ramnani co-founded with 885 cofounder Jai Mahtani, was bought by Stripe for $200 million in 2020. More Africa-focused fintech startups followed. The pair formed Sporty Group, which operates Africa’s largest sports book, SportyBet; and SportyTV, the largest free-to-air soccer channel on the continent. SportyTV includes games of Real Madrid, a club for which SportyBet is a regional sponsor.

It’s through Sporty Group that the business partners started finding investment opportunities in athletics, founding 885 to formally invest in sports deals as well as technology and real estate. “We’re in the ecosystem, one door opens the other … once people realize there’s been some success,” Ramnani said. “Operating across the ecosystem across gaming, across broadcasting, means that we come across interesting projects.”

Ramnani and PFL’s Davis got to know each other through meeting with PFL to discuss African broadcast rights, leading to 885’s direct investment in the league. 885 has no outside investors—it’s all Ramnani’s and Mahtani’s money—and while they decline to say how much capital they have in 885 and the size of their investment in PFL, both are probably significant; PFL is now valued at $1 billion, according to the league, and 885 has two of the 10 board seats, filled by Ramnani and Mahtani. Only Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, with two representatives from PIF and SURJ’s Danny Townsend, has more seats.

“Sudeep and Jai are dynamic entrepreneurs and connected global executives who have brought tremendous insights and relationships to PFL business and expansion in short period of time,” Davis said in an email. “We work most closely with them on digital, media and gaming initiatives in emerging markets.”

Ramnani’s macro thesis that humans are forever drawn to sports doesn’t mean 885 invests wildly. His parameters for buying into a team or a league are built around the structural shift in broadcasting and intellectual property control. “There are a lot of new sports properties where they are founder-led, where there is end-to-end control of the project, IP ownership and the ability to build something without too many egos in the room, kind of the DNA of a technology company,” he explained.

Such companies are usually “challenger brands,” according to Ramnani, which is reflected in his sports portfolio that includes the six-per-side European soccer Baller League, rugby’s R360 startup effort and the European League of Football, which fills the void left by the NFL’s exit from the continent. 885 also owns Blue Crow Sports Group, a more traditional holding of equity in four teams across Mexico, Europe and Dubai.

Like the soccer and rugby leagues, PFL fits 885’s preferred profile well—“to build upon the success UFC has had, [but] taking a localized approach and giving regional fighters the opportunity to become local heroes and also be part of a global platform,” Ramnani said.

PFL’s smaller footprint relative to UFC actually can help the league. “There are some structural changes taking place in sports, and you can make your weaknesses your strengths,” he said. “Like if you don’t have a huge existing legacy revenue stream, then you have a blank canvas to work with, and have a more direct relationship with the consumer.”

Free-to-air broadcasting can be a PFL strength, making it the first MMA brand most consumers will interact with as UFC focuses on large single events and pay-per-view.

As to why Ramnani is opening up after quietly buying into PFL months ago, the executive says there’s value to people knowing who he and Mahtani are. “We’re not selling anything, we’re not looking to raise external capital, we’re not looking for investors. We’re people who are very open to collaboration, very open to conversations and creating value—building stuff together.”