Stake, a digital real estate investing platform based in Dubai, raised more than $8 million (AED 29.38 million) in an oversubscribed pre-series A funding round. This boosts Stake’s total raised capital to more than $12 million (AED 44.08 million) when combined with the business’s $4 million (AED 14.7 million) seed round in June 2021.
This capital raise is the largest amongst any other real estate investment platform in the MENA region. Not only was the capital raised from some of the most successful venture capital investors in the MENA region, namely BY Ventures, and MEVP. But also, previous investors in the company such as Vivium Holding and Combined Growth Real Estate invested additional funds into Stake as part of this pre-series A funding round.
HOW STAKE PLAN TO USE THE RAISED CAPITAL
Stake intends to invest this additional capital in expanding its operations within the MENA region. But it is also looking to enhance its product and technology and elevate its overall brand presence. This comes with the company’s vision of facilitating a high-quality, borderless, and liquid real estate investment market that is highly accessible to its users. A user base that already amounts to 42,000 users spread across over 80 different countries and of 150 nationalities.
With regional investors seeking security in the real estate market as a way to hedge against global market volatility, Stake is looking toward continuing the expansion of its platform to accommodate the rising demand. This has resulted in a rise in Stake’s Assets Under Management (AUM) to increase by 500% over the last 12 months, and a 17% monthly growth rate in AUMs as well as investors.
Stake is also striving to expand into both the Saudi Arabian and Egyptian markets by the first quarter of 2023. The firm seeks to encourage the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s investors and empower Egyptians to participate in their consistently expanding domestic real estate markets.
Exciting projects in these markets are underway. These include three new Four Seasons hospitality developments In Egypt, but also the Rua Al-Madinah project in Saudi Arabia. These are just two of many planned or underway developments in the respective countries. They offer an attractive investment opportunity that is helping to make both Egypt’s Vision 2030 and Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 a reality.
At present, Stake is working to double the size of its team in the markets it is expanding to, and the company now has more than 30 employees.
HOW STAKE IS REVOLUTIONIZING REAL ESTATE INVESTING IN THE MENA REGION
The firm will bring greater liquidity for investors and strive to democratize real estate as an asset class. The MENA region's population of over 400 million people can therefore expect their demands to be met for an improved real estate investing journey. This is anticipated to save over $500 billion each year.
Real estate investing is now straightforward and accessible to everyone thanks to Stake’s digital platform. Stake achieves this by having a low barrier to entry of AED 500. Along with this, the company also identifies the most attractive real estate deals on the market and offers all the information required for its customers to make well-informed investment decisions.
They also oversee end-to-end investments for their clients, handling everything from property purchase to rent arrangements and distribution to payment management to the actual execution of asset sales upon exit. Stake makes it possible for anybody to become a property owner in a matter of minutes, resulting in the creation of a diverse real estate portfolio that produces an extra cash stream and high-performing investment returns.
