News
Huspy Raises One of the Largest Seed Rounds in MENA
Apr 20, 2021
Huspy, a Dubai-based PropTech startup, has raised a funding round led by VentureFriends with participation from Amir Farha (Cotu), B&Y Ventures, Plug and Play, and large regional family offices.
Huspy is building the new wave of PropTech to disrupt the real estate industry starting with home financing. Launched in Aug 2020 by CEO Jad Antoun and CTO Khalid Ashmawy, the company is starting with a web and app-based licensed mortgage platform offering home financing products with no paperwork involved. The company promises customers a quote with the best price guarantee in under one minute and the ability to close the transaction three times faster than the traditional process. While only 8 months old, Huspy is already one of the largest brokerages in the country with more than $200m in annualized GMV, 150+ transactions, and growing 40%+ every month with their current core product focusing on home buying and refinancing.
Jad Antoun, co-founder and CEO of Huspy said: “We're tackling a massive market that is underserved with plans to go global. The home-buying experience is broken, it takes consumers two months to finance their home and the majority overpay for their mortgage. This problem is present globally but is even more visible in emerging markets and we want to solve it.”
Huspy plans on using the funding to focus on investing in products and technology and double down on growth with plans to expand to new verticals and markets.
Khalid Ashmawy, co-founder and CTO of Huspy said: “The team has built tools and systems to leverage technology in a highly operational business. This gives us the ability to scale Huspy in a significant way, giving our team a powerful edge over any competition. We also designed our systems and architecture in a way, where we can launch in new markets quickly so we’re ready for international expansion.”
The company has also recruited a top-tier team with notable experience in PropTech and Fintech, from Loft, Revolut, and Nubank including Murilo Marques, former director of growth at Loft (and first growth hire), the fastest unicorn in LATAM, valued at $2.2bn.
Murilo Marques, now VP of Growth and Operations at Huspy said: “The MENA region is the next market to be disrupted by PropTech startups and we want to be at the forefront of innovation. We come with a lot of experience in this space and we’re confident in our ability to deliver a very strong value proposition to the customer.”
George Dimopoulos, co-founder, and partner in VentureFriends said: “MENA is a fantastic market for us having a very positive experience from our involvement with Instashop and Justmop. We believe Huspy will be another great investment for VentureFriends because it tackles a real problem of a very big market! Jad and Khalid were impressive during our initial discussions while their successful efforts to attract talent internationally underlines the caliber of the team and the potential of the business. Very excited to be part of this journey and looking forward to assisting people with securing the best mortgage solution for them”.
