UAE’s Proptech Pioneer estaie Secures Seven-Figure Boost for AI-Driven Expansion

Mohammed Fathy

Last updated 1-04-2026

5 min

Dubai-based estaie raised seven-figure pre-seed funding to target extended stays.

It calls itself the “world’s first AI-native” month-long booking platform.

Backed by PlusVC and Orbit, it plans expansion from Dubai to Riyadh.

The team blends tech, travel and commercial expertise to fix fragmented processes.

Early traction shows 400 hotels signed and steady monthly growth.

UAE-based proptech startup estaie has secured a seven-figure pre-seed round, marking an early but confident bet on a very specific slice of the hospitality market: extended stays. The round was led by PlusVC and Orbit Ventures, with participation from Falak Angels, Value Makers Studio (VMS) and investor Vasil Zdravkov.

The company, founded in 2025, describes itself as the world’s first AI-native extended-stay platform. In simple terms, it is building technology aimed at people booking stays of a month or more — that awkward middle ground between a hotel room for a few nights and signing a long-term residential lease. I’ve seen firsthand how messy that space can be in our region; friends relocating to Dubai or Riyadh often tell me finding a clean, flexible, fairly priced place for a few months is a bit of a faff.

estaie is supported by in5, the Dubai-based start-up incubator launched by TECOM Group. With this fresh capital, the company plans to accelerate its regional expansion, placing particular emphasis on Saudi Arabia as it scales from Dubai into Riyadh.

Leading the venture is founder and CEO Osama Shawky, a six-time founder with three previous exits under his belt. He previously held senior commercial roles at multinationals such as Orange Business and Concentrix. He is joined by CTO and co-founder Nimit Solanki, whose background includes Careem, Grab and Deutsche Telekom, and COO and co-founder Mark Reed, who has worked with brands like Finnair, Trailfinders and The Walt Disney Company. On paper at least, it’s a team that blends tech, travel and commercial strategy — and that mix feels spot on for what they’re trying to tackle.

The problem estaie is targeting is structural. While short-stay travel has long been streamlined by platforms built around nightly pricing, longer stays remain fragmented. Operators often rely on manual processes, inconsistent pricing models and outdated distribution systems. The result? Underused rooms for property owners and limited pricing transparency for guests. estaie says it has built its core technology in-house and currently has three patents pending, positioning itself not just as a listing site but as an operating layer powered by AI.

Shawky said the extended-stay segment is “massive” and growing quickly, yet still lacks dedicated infrastructure. He described estaie as an AI-native layer connecting demand, pricing intelligence and ecosystem partners into a single platform, adding that the company aims to define this category across the region.

Investors appear to share that view. Hasan Haider, founder and managing partner at Plus VC, said the platform addresses a fast-growing but underserved segment at the intersection of real estate, travel and technology. He noted that the startup’s ambition to redefine how extended stays are discovered, booked and managed aligns with Plus VC’s focus on backing tech-enabled companies reshaping traditional industries.

William Bao Bean, managing general partner at Orbit Ventures, pointed to broader regional shifts. He said MENA is attracting global talent, and that estaie helps workers secure month-long bookings at lower rates, potentially reducing barriers to living and working in the region, while also helping hotel partners unlock new revenue through digitisation.

Meanwhile, VMS is not only providing capital but also market-entry support in Saudi Arabia. CEO Moataz Abuonq said the firm is backing estaie as part of its strategy to support category-creating founders, particularly those aligned with growing demand for tech-enabled hospitality under Vision 2030. That hands-on support — beyond writing a cheque — could be crucial as the startup builds partnerships in the Kingdom.

Early traction suggests there is appetite. Since launching in April 2025, estaie has signed more than 400 hotels and 1,000 holiday homes, including three large regional agreements. On the demand side, more than 3,000 room nights have been booked through its platform, with reported month-on-month growth of 17–18%. For a startup at pre-seed stage, those numbers are not insignificant.

Of course, pre-seed is still early days, and execution will be everything. The hospitality sector in MENA is competitive and, at times, slow to digitise — old habits die hard. On the flip side, Saudi Arabia’s rapid transformation and Dubai’s status as a global hub make the timing interesting. I reckon if estaie manages to simplify long stays in a way that feels seamless for both guests and operators, it could tap into a definatley underdeveloped niche.

For founders across the region reading Arageek, there is something encouraging here. estaie is not chasing the obvious trend. Instead, it is zooming in on a specific pain point — the long stay — and building focused infrastructure around it. In a market where many startups try to do everything at once, sometimes narrowing the lens makes all the difference, you know?

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