Saudi-backed real estate startup in talks to expand into KSA

Saudi-backed real estate startup in talks to expand into KSA

RIYADH: Stake, a Dubai-based financial technology (fintech) and real estate investment platform backed by Saudi investors, is in talks to expand into Saudi Arabia. Launched in December 2020 to disrupt the region's real estate investment market, Stake is based in the FinTech Hive in the Dubai International Financial Centre. It was established by co-founders Rami Tabbarra, a former senior vice president of sales at developer DAMAC, and Manar Mahmassani, a former managing director at Falcon Group and vice president at Deutsche Bank. The company allows investors to buy shares in a property and earn regular returns in the form of quarterly dividends. The entry-level for investors is 2,000 dirham ($544), all the way up to a third of the value of an individual property. Stake announced on Tuesday that it has raised $4 million in a seed funding round led by Combined Growth Real Estate, a company led by Amer Hammour, founder and chairman of Madison Marquette, a US-based real estate investment management company. It also attracted participation from Dubai-based private family office Vivium Capital, Zurich-headquartered venture capital firm Verve Ventures, UK-based Chalgrove Properties Limited, Riyadh-based Lama Holding and Mishaal Alireza, a Saudi Arabian angel investor. Alireza told Arab News: