A new wave of property investment is taking shape across the Gulf, driven by platforms that are rethinking how capital can access real estate. Stake, a digital real estate investment platform headquartered in the UAE, has announced the close of a $31 million oversubscribed Series B round led by Emirates NBD, as it accelerates expansion across the Middle East and builds out regulated cross-border access to property markets.
The funding round also included participation from a group of regional and strategic investors including Mubadala’s MENA Venture Capital Fund, Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP), Property Finder, STV NICE, Wa’ed Ventures, GFH Partners, and Ellington Properties, taking Stake’s total funding to $58 million.
Why the round matters
The Middle East’s property market has long attracted global capital, but access for smaller investors has historically been limited by ticket sizes, cross-border complexity, and opaque ownership structures. Stake’s model is positioned to address that gap by offering regulated, technology-enabled exposure to real estate, with an emphasis on transparency and simplified ownership.
For Emirates NBD, the investment signals rising institutional confidence in platforms that sit at the intersection of wealth management, fintech infrastructure, and real assets—particularly as demand grows for diversified, income-generating investment options.
Saudi Arabia: the immediate growth priority
Stake has identified Saudi Arabia as its most strategic near-term market. According to details shared publicly about the company’s progress, Stake became the first CMA-regulated investment platform to open Saudi’s property market to global investors in Q4 2024.
Since then, the company says it has:
- Launched three Saudi real estate funds
- Attracted 6,930 international investors
- Directed more than SAR 416 million into the Saudi property sector
The new capital is expected to support deeper localisation, operational scale, and the continued expansion of its CMA-regulated offering.
Beyond the GCC: testing international scalability
While the Gulf remains the core focus, Stake has also been building proof points for global expansion. In October 2025, the company entered the US industrial real estate market, targeting what it describes as a resilient asset class and using the move to validate demand for income-producing assets beyond the region.
This international push reflects a broader ambition: to become infrastructure that connects investors to real estate opportunities across markets—without requiring traditional cross-border friction.
Product roadmap: from fractional access to full ownership and tokenisation
Stake’s expansion strategy is not only geographic—it is also product-led.
In October 2025, the company launched StakeOne, designed to digitise access to full property ownership and post-sale asset management. The product is positioned around premium Dubai developments and aims to streamline ownership structures.
Stake has also indicated it is pursuing regulated tokenisation in partnership with Property Finder and has secured In-Principle Approval from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), as it explores fractional and potentially tradeable exposure to real estate assets.
What to watch next
For regional investors and market observers, Stake’s Emirates NBD-led round highlights three themes that are likely to shape Middle East proptech over the next 12–24 months:
- Regulation as a growth enabler: platforms that can operate under DFSA/CMA frameworks may scale faster and attract institutional partners.
- Saudi Arabia’s pull: as the Kingdom broadens participation in capital markets, real estate investing is becoming more accessible to a wider base.
- Product convergence: fractional investing, full ownership digitisation, and tokenisation are increasingly part of the same roadmap.
As capital continues to flow into the region’s fintech ecosystem, the next phase will be defined by execution: building trust, proving liquidity pathways, and maintaining transparency as platforms scale.
Stake is a UAE-based digital real estate investment platform that enables investors to access curated real estate opportunities through a technology-driven model. The company positions itself as regulated infrastructure connecting investors to property markets, with operations spanning the UAE and Saudi Arabia and an expansion roadmap that includes international markets.
Emirates NBD is one of the largest banking groups in the Middle East, North Africa and Türkiye (MENAT). The bank provides a broad range of retail, corporate, and investment banking services, and has increasingly participated in regional fintech growth through strategic partnerships and investments.
Cosmopolitan The Daily is a global business publication covering finance, technology, energy, real estate, and other high-impact sectors. With teams across seven global offices, the publication delivers breaking news and in-depth insights for directors and senior executives and runs its annual Business Excellence Awards programme recognizing organizations across industries.