The archive · Money & Fintech · Strategic decision · 2021-2026
Stake: Dubai fintech that bet AED 500 fractions could open real estate to the world
Dubai's Stake let anyone buy property from AED 500, won the first Saudi licence for global investors, and scaled past 2M users on $58M.
Stake
What the business is
Stake is a Dubai-based digital real estate investment platform: users buy fractional shares of income-generating properties from AED 500, receive monthly rental income, trade on periodic Exit Windows, and invest in private real estate funds, with regulated cross-border access to Saudi Arabia and US industrial property.
Starting capital：$8M pre-Series A in 2022 (MEVP and BY Ventures, per Wamda); $14M Series A in June 2024 led by MEVP with Aramco's Wa'ed Ventures, Mubadala and Republic; $31M Series B in Feb 2026 led by Emirates NBD with Mubadala's MENA VC Fund, MEVP, Property Finder, STV NICE, Wa'ed, GFH Partners and Ellington Properties; $58M total.
How it started
Manar Mahmassani, Rami Tabbara and Ricardo Brizido founded Stake in Dubai in 2021 after watching the UAE property boom shut out anyone without a large cheque: high minimums, opaque agents and no resale path kept real estate a rich-person asset. Stake digitised it, letting investors buy fractional shares of managed, income-generating properties from AED 500 and earn a slice of monthly rent, with Exit Windows to sell holdings every six months. An $8M pre-Series A in 2022, backed by MEVP and BY Ventures, funded the build-out.
What happened
By mid-2024 Stake counted 500,000+ users, 200+ properties worth AED 355M sold in-app and 100,000+ transactions, and closed a $14M Series A led by MEVP with Aramco's Wa'ed Ventures, Mubadala and Republic. The capital funded entry to Saudi Arabia as the first platform letting people outside the Kingdom invest in Saudi property, plus expansion to Abu Dhabi; Stake had first announced Saudi and Egypt plans in 2022 but deferred them citing economic volatility. In Q4 2024 it became the first CMA-regulated investment platform to open the Kingdom's property market to global investors.
How it ended up
Stake is still scaling. In Feb 2026 Emirates NBD led an oversubscribed $31M Series B with Mubadala's MENA VC Fund, MEVP, Property Finder, STV NICE, Wa'ed, GFH Partners and Ellington Properties, lifting total funding to $58M. Stake had by then closed three Saudi real estate funds, drawn 6,930 international investors and moved over SAR 416M into the Kingdom; in Oct 2025 it added US industrial real estate and launched StakeOne for full-property ownership, and it holds in-principle approval from Dubai's VARA to tokenise real estate with Property Finder.
Background
Stake was founded in Dubai in 2021 by Manar Mahmassani, Rami Tabbara and Ricardo Brizido on the bet that real estate could be made as accessible as stocks: buy a managed, income-generating property in fractions from AED 500, earn monthly rent, and sell through six-monthly Exit Windows. The founders had seen the UAE's property boom exclude everyone without a large cheque, and set out to digitise ownership for global retail investors.
The model proved out in Dubai before the borders opened: by June 2024 Stake had over 500,000 users, 200+ properties worth AED 355M sold in-app, 100,000+ transactions, a Deloitte Fast 50 Rising Star nod, and a $14M Series A led by MEVP with Aramco's Wa'ed Ventures, Mubadala and Republic. The round funded a move into Saudi Arabia as the first platform allowing non-Saudis to invest in the Kingdom's property, and in Q4 2024 Stake became the first CMA-regulated investment platform to open Saudi real estate to global investors.
In Feb 2026 Emirates NBD led a $31M Series B, taking Stake's total funding to $58M and backing a platform now serving 2M+ users across 181 countries, with GMV compounding above 130% a year. Stake had closed three Saudi real estate funds, channelled over SAR 416M into the Kingdom, entered US industrial real estate, launched StakeOne for full-property ownership, and secured VARA in-principle approval to tokenise real estate with Property Finder, pushing toward its stated goal of borderless, liquid property ownership.
What has to be true
- Stake had evidence before scaling: 500,000+ users and AED 355M of property sold through the app showed ordinary investors would commit money, not just browse.
- The AED 500 fraction plus monthly rental payouts and Exit Windows solved the two classic objections to real estate: minimum ticket size and illiquidity.
- Regulation became the moat: being the first CMA-regulated platform to open Saudi property to global investors created a licence advantage competitors could not buy quickly.
- The cross-border model compounds: the same rails now carry Saudi funds, US industrial assets and a VARA-approved tokenisation pipeline, each expanding the addressable market.
What can be applied
When a market is closed to outsiders, demand is not the bottleneck, regulatory trust is: state-linked capital and a first-mover licence turned compliance itself into the product and the moat.
Aftermath
As of 2026-09-04 Stake operates from Dubai as the region's leading digital real estate platform, scaling on $58M raised (Wamda, 2026-02-16). Saudi Arabia is its most immediate growth market: since Q4 2024, when it first opened Saudi property to global investors, Stake has closed three funds, drawn 6,930 international investors and channelled over SAR 416M into the Kingdom. In Oct 2025 it entered US industrial real estate and launched StakeOne for full ownership of Dubai assets, and holds VARA in-principle approval, with Property Finder, for tokenisation. No exit or shutdown has been announced.
Sources
- UAE's proptech Stake closes $14 million Series A
- Stake raises $14M to bring its fractional property investment platform to Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi
- Stake closes $31 million Series B led by Emirates NBD
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