Branded Entertainment Executives Anthony Damianakis, Pete Fergusson Launch Dubai-Based Startup IPX to Connect Brands With Content (EXCLUSIVE)

Branded entertainment executives Anthony Damianakis and Pete Fergusson have launched IPX, a Dubai-headquartered startup that aims to connect brands with creators, producers, broadcasters, streamers and other content platforms to jointly develop premium content and ownable IP. IPX, which the founders are billing as the world’s first global marketplace for branded entertainment, opens with offices in London and Sydney and launches on Monday, Feb. 16, with a live pipeline of projects and early, unspecified agreements from premium IP owners and major international agencies.

"Branded entertainment is a $100 billion industry with no real infrastructure," said Anthony Damianakis. "Deals happen through personal networks, opportunities are invisible unless you're in the room, and there's no efficient way for the right brands to find the right creators. We are building the global marketplace this industry has needed for years using behavioural science and data insights instead of gut feel and relationships."

Context and structure

IPX is being launched from the UAE with a strategic focus on the Middle East, which the company says it will "capitalise on regional production incentives and the region’s growing momentum as a global content and entertainment hub." The startup also stresses its "deep inroads into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through the Saudi Agency Network."

• Founders: Anthony Damianakis — formerly commercial content director at Australia’s Boomtown Pictures and chief growth officer at The Saudi Agency Network; Pete Fergusson — CEO and founder of The Saudi Agency Network and the founder of U.K.-based video agency Nemorin Film & Video.
• Early backers: Toby Hack, a former top executive at Omnicom’s PHD Worldwide, and Juliette Otterburn-Hall, founder and managing partner of U.K. consulting firm Value Squared.
• Offices: Global headquarters in Dubai (UAE) with additional offices in London and Sydney.

Fergusson framed the regional opportunity succinctly: "The Middle East uniquely combines attractive production incentives, ambitious distribution, a can‑do culture, and growing brand investment." His past agency, Nemorin Film & Video, counted clients such as NBCUniversal, Nat Geo, Hugo Boss, McDonald's, Amazon and American Express, underscoring the founders' experience connecting global brands to high-end production.

IPX positions itself as a technology-enabled marketplace rather than a conventional agency. Damianakis has highlighted the platform's use of behavioural science and data insights to match brands and creators, pitching it as an alternative to the traditional dealmaking model that relies on personal networks.

Outlook

Launching with a pipeline of projects that the company is keeping under wraps, IPX is betting that a formalised marketplace can unlock value in a sector Damianakis describes as an under‑served $100 billion industry. With headquarters in the UAE, investor ties to established ad and media executives, and a playbook rooted in both agency and production experience, IPX aims to convert informal, relationship-driven branded content deals into discoverable, data-driven partnerships — starting in the Middle East and expanding through its London and Sydney offices.