Dubai-based digital real estate investment platform, Stake, secured over US$8 million in a pre-series A funding round. This follows a US$4 million seed round the company closed back in June 2021, bringing their total raised funds to over US$12 million.
Backed by some of the region’s leading venture capital investors, MEVP and BY Ventures, and participation from returning investors Vivium Holding and Combined Growth Real Estate, the funding marks the largest capital raise by a real estate investment platform in the MENA region.
With a base of 42,000 users from over 80 countries and 150 nationalities, Stake plans to invest this new capital in advancing its product and technology, upscaling its brand, and expanding operations within the region with the vision of enabling a borderless, liquid, and accessible market for quality real estate investments.
The company expects to continue fueling growth in the platform as regional investors flock to real estate for stability in today’s volatile global markets. This has led Stake to register an average 17% monthly growth rate in both investors and Assets Under Management (AUM), and 500% overall growth in AUMs in the past 12 months alone.
Rami Tabbara, Manar Mahmassani, and Ricardo Brizido, Co-Founders of Stake commented “Investors in the region and beyond deserve a more transparent, digital-friendly means of investing in real estate. This round is a testament to our mission at Stake to bring access and liquidity to the oldest, largest, and most sought-after asset class in the world. The proceeds will allow us to continue attracting the best talent to the team and cement Stake’s position as the category leader in the MENA region.”
The region’s real estate surge has motivated Stake to enter two more markets by Q1 2023: Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The startup aims to direct the Kingdom’s proactive investors and encourage young Egyptians to tap into the rapidly growing asset class created in their domestic markets.
Currently at 30+ team members, Stake is gearing towards recruiting new talent and doubling the team size in its expansion markets. The startup will provide investors with more liquidity and democratize the real estate asset class, as the region calls for a better real estate investment journey for its population of over 400 million, saving upwards of US$500 billion a year.
Riyad Abou Jaoudeh, Partner at MEVP says, “We believe that the future of property investment is digital, fractional, and hassle-free. The team at Stake has enabled thousands to become real estate invetsors and we are excited to partner with them as they scale in MENA.”
Despite global tensions and rising inflation concerns in the region, UAE’s real estate market continues to thrive, with Q2 2022 witnessing the highest quarterly volume of sales and 22.5K+ transactions taking place, valued at US$16.1 billion. As such, the real estate industry emerges as one of the top five sub-sectors by deal value in the Middle East, ranked alongside consumer products, banking and capital markets, asset management, and transportation.
Abdallah Yafi, Founder and Managing partner at BY Ventures added, “We are delighted to welcome Stake to the BY portfolio and to be partnering with such an incredible team led by Rami, Manar and Ricardo in their mission driven journey to build the go-to platform for fractional real estate investing in MENA. We’re proud of their early success in the UAE and excited about the potential in the wider MENA region. We strongly believe in the execution capabilities of the Stake team and their ability to build a dominant business while focusing on delivering profitable growth.”
Stake has grown from strength to strength since launching the Middle East’s first mobile application for fractional real estate investing in March 2022. On a mission to empower everyone to own and build wealth through real estate, Stake aims to multiply its active investor base ten-fold, becoming the category leader in KSA and UAE.
Elie Khouri, Founder of Vivium Holding, further commented, “We believe that property investment stands at the core of any wealth building strategy and we continue to stand behind Stake as they are democratizing real estate ownership across the region.”
For more information on Stake and how to get started, please visit their website.
