Saudi Proptech Ejari Closes $1 Million Pre-Seed Round

Saudi Arabian proptech company Ejari has completed a $1 million pre-Seed funding round, with prominent backing from Sanabil 500 MENA and Hambro Perks' Oryx Fund, along with support from several angel investors.

Established in 2022 by Yazeed Al-Shamsi, Fahad Albedah, Mohammed Alkhelewy and Khalid Almunif, and headquartered in Riyadh, Ejari introduces a unique Rent Now, Pay Later (RNPL) solution for residential rentals to address the rigid payment structures prevalent in the Saudi rental market.

Ejari launched its RNPL service in the second quarter of 2023, following approval from the Real Estate General Authority of Saudi Arabia, enabling tenants to make monthly rent payments while landlords receive their annual rental income upfront, enhancing financial flexibility for tenants and improving landlord attractiveness in a competitive rental market. The fresh funding will empower Ejari to expand its RNPL offering and venture into other proptech solutions.

"Our vision is to democratise access to the real estate market with our solution, empowering and enabling tenants to change their rental bill from a large yearly expense into a manageable monthly one,” Ejari CEO Yazeed Alshamsi tells StartupScene. “With this recent funding, we are well positioned to accelerate the growth of our Rent Now, Pay Later service and expand into other innovative prop-tech solutions."

Ejari is part of the 10th cohort of the Saudi Telecom Company's InspireU accelerator program, and secured first place in the Customer Experience Digitization Challenge, a segment of the Real Estate Innovation Challenge sponsored by the Saudi Real Estate General Authority (REGA) and the Saudi Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority. Ejari also participated in the MVP LAB initiative's inaugural batch, which is run by the Saudi National Technology Development Programme.