A few years back, who would’ve thought that one could apply for a mortgage loan simply from the comfort of their couch and without having to make a visit to the bank?
Well, it is 2022, and while we might not have flying cars as we predicted in the past we do have some everything else just a tap away, even mortgage loans. Huspy is one such platform that allows masses to apply for a mortgage loan without having to pay a visit to the bank.
Even during the pandemic, real estate continued to be an in-demand asset class around the world, showing a growth of 59 percent YoY in 2021. However, less than 1 percent of home-buying transactions are completed through digital channels. With this addition, Huspy aims to solve many such challenges across every stage of the home-buying process.
What is Huspy?
Founded back in 2020, Huspy is a Dubai-based proptech, that serves as an online mortgage platform. The startup aims to streamline the otherwise complex and confusing process of mortgage, in the UAE, for an average customer by allowing them to secure home loans through its web and mobile app, without any paperwork.
The Huspy portal allows the customers to do everything in one place, from calculating their loan size, and viewing personalized bank offers to submit their application, and getting pre-approval, all gets done online.
The startup is currently expanding at a rate of 25 percent month on month to become one of the UAE’s leading housing platforms.
Background of Founders
Jad Antoun
Jad is an alumnus of the University of San Francisco and graduated with a bachelor’s in applied economics.
After completing his bachelor’s, he served at a number of reputable international firms in different capacities, until he co-founded Huspy in 2020.
Khalid Ashmawy
Khalid completed his bachelor’s in Computer Science from the German University in Cairo. After his graduation, he started his career as a Software Engineer at Microsoft and later, joined Uber as Senior Tech Lead Manager.
Then in 2021, he joined Huspy as its Co-Founder and CTO.
Why Huspy?
Huspy is building the new wave of PropTech to disrupt the real estate industry starting with home financing.
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 two years old, Huspy is already one of the largest brokerages in the country with more than $200 million in annualized GMV, 150+ transactions, and growing 40%+ every month with their current core product focusing on home buying and refinancing.
The best part? Its service is entirely free for customers. Huspy does not charge a broker fee. Explaining how it’s able to do that, the company’s CEO in a statement said:
Given that we use tech to deliver our value proposition we don’t need to hire an army of people and therefore are able to pass on the savings to the customer.
But then, how does the startup generate revenue? Huspy makes money by charging the banks financing the loans a commission for every loan.
Funding Raised
Seed Round: Raised $10 million
In 2021, the platform raised $10 million in a seed funding round led by Athens-based VentureFriends. Beco Capital’s former managing partner Amir Farha also participated in the deal (through his new firm COTU) along with B&Y Venture Partners, Plug and Play, and some family offices from the region.
Series A Round: Raised $37 million
Then in 2022, the startup raised $37 million in Series A funding led by Sequoia Capital India. Founders Fund and Fifth Wall made their Middle East investment debut in this round. Other investors included:
- Chimera Capital joined returning investors Breyer Capital
- VentureFriends
- COTU
- Venture Souq
- BY Venture Partners.
Future Plans
Huspy plans on using the newly raised funding to focus on investing in products and technology and double down its 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.