The Bench FZE today announced that it advised Athens based VentureFriends on the successful investment in the UAE based online mortgage platform Huspy. The size of the deal was not disclosed but it is said be one of the largest seed rounds ever raised by a startup in the Middle East & North Africa.
Huspy enables customers to secure home loans through its web and mobile app, without any paperwork. The co-founders started working on the idea after realizing how complex, broken, and confusing the process of mortgage is, in the UAE, for an average customer. The two had a first-hand experience and decided to change things.
VentureFriends is a team of entrepreneurs and angel investors turned into venture capitalists. George Dimopoulos, the co-founder and partner at VentureFriends, commenting on the investment, said, “MENA is a fantastic market for us having a very positive experience from our involvement with Instashop and Justmop. We believe Huspy will be another great investment for VentureFriends because it tackles a real problem of a very big market! Jad and Khalid were impressive during our initial discussions while their successful efforts to attract talent internationally underlines the caliber of the team and the potential of the business. Very excited to be part of this journey and looking forward to assisting people with securing the best mortgage solution for them”.
The Bench team was led by Senior Consultant Gerard Hobby whose role included the due diligence aspects of the project. The Bench Founder, Joby Beretta, commented “We were delighted to be instructed by VentureFriends on this Seed round investment, which is a testament to the strength of the UAE PropTech and FinTech start-up ecosystem”.
The Bench is very active in the FinTech and PropTech sectors and has been advising local start-ups in the UAE for over 20 years. According to Chambers and Partners FinTech Guide 2021: "The Bench has a diverse range of strengths in the FinTech industry, and can provide expert advice on IP protection strategies, FinTech M&A and outsourcing. The firm displays excellent capacity for handling complex contract negotiations and licensing agreements. The firm counts an impressive list of FinTech startups, financial institutions and TMT suppliers amongst its client base."
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