Bahraini startup streams success?

For 10 years Ali Mahmood was obsessed with amateur motorbike and go-kart racing.

He wanted to take his love of the sports to another level though – he wanted sponsorship. “I wanted to continue but it was hard,” he told Wamda. “[I was] rejected many times, so I looked at why they were rejecting me.”

Mahmood realized that companies were not giving out sponsorship because no one was actually watching the sport on TV – an impossibility because they weren’t even broadcast.

A project coordinator for a supermarket at the time he says that it was his passion that led him towards creating a live-streaming channel.

Back in 2013 if you wanted to see drag racing at the Bahrain International Circuit, a Dodge Challenger race in Riyadh, or any of the Drift UAE season, you had one option – to be there.

Now, thanks to Mahmood, you have a second option.

Since February 2013 uTrack.tv, Mahmood’s startup has been live-streaming sporting events.

Servicing the niche

After much chasing Wamda was unable to get a comment from any sports channels on why they don’t cover the smaller events like drag- or go-kart racing.

But Mahmood (below) says the demand is there.

“In the Middle East we love the engines, the sound. [Those running these events] have been complaining for many years that there is no investment, and in Europe, they have the whole package,” he said. “Over here they don’t understand the business of motor sports. If you are looking to improve the industry, we come in with our own solution.”