A Dubai-based prop-tech firm Prypco has raised $10 million in a seed funding round led by Shorooq Partners, with participation from Apparel Group and other investors.
The funding, completed in September 2024, will support the two-year-old proptech firm’s plans to scale its operations and expand its offerings.
Amira Sajwani, founder and CEO of Prypco, stated that the partnership with Shorooq Partners adds significant value to the company.
“We started the company bootstrapped, and we’re very proud of that. Of course, the investment is a great bonus, but we’re particularly happy with the team and have built a phenomenal relationship,” she said on the sidelines of the agreement signing event.
Mahmoud Adi, founding partner at Shorooq Partners, said that his firm supports companies leveraging technology to transform traditional sectors, noting that Prypco never slowed down when it came to execution.
During a joint interview with Prypco’s founder on Tuesday, Adi stated, “They’ve remained focused, with their heads down, building and growing.
“Even while being bootstrapped, they’ve proven to be an incredibly credible and reliable business.”
The $10 million investment would primarily be used to support the company’s growth and ensure organic expansion, allowing it to continue on its growth trajectory, said Amira. The firm aims to become a $250 million ARR [Annual Recurring Revenue] business by December 2027
Business verticals
Prypco currently operates four verticals: Prypco Blocks, Prypco Mortgage, Prypco Exclusives, and Prypco Golden Visa.
Prypco Mortgage, which facilitates home loans, has disbursed over 500 million UAE dirhams ($136 million) to date including a record single mortgage disbursal of AED48.5 million.
Prypco Blocks is a DFSA-regulated fractional real estate ownership platform that enables investors to digitally invest in rental properties from AED 2,000. It has already fully funded nine properties since its official launch and plans to add more real estate investment opportunities in the coming months.
Prypco Golden Visa assists clients in obtaining long-term residency in the UAE and managing the paperwork involved while Prypco Exclusives, slated to be launched soon, gives real estate brokers access to secondary properties, with more than 250 listings across 70 projects.
“In mortgages, we are currently the second-largest mortgage broker in the UAE,” said Amira.
“For fractional ownership, even though we started just three months ago, we are already the third-largest in the UAE. When it comes to Golden Visas, we are the largest provider at scale [with 600 plus visas], as few service providers are offering this at our level.”
Resilience amid change
While acknowledging that the seed funding has coincided with a booming UAE real estate sector, Amira confidently stated that the business will not be impacted by any potential market correction.
“In fact, in the mortgage sector, when the market slows down, more people tend to opt for mortgages. Interest rates come down and those with existing mortgages often seek to refinance at better rates, and we handle that process as well,” she said.
The Prypco founder emphasised that fractional ownership functions more as a fintech product that competes with bonds and other interest-based instruments, making it less dependent on the Dubai market and more influenced by global market conditions.
“When interest rates drop, bond prices rise, and their yields come down, as well as stock market returns. Our fractional ownership product competes with such financial instruments, making it less affected by local market shifts,” she said.
Furthermore, even if the market were to slow down, Dubai’s property yields have consistently remained above 7 percent from pre-COVID to the present.
“Yields are slightly lower currently due to higher sales prices, which would benefit fractional ownership returns. So, in either case, we wouldn’t be negatively affected,” she said.
She also added that the current range of returns for Prypco’s fractional ownership product is between 8 percent and 12 percent.
