Mabaat, a Riyadh-based marketplace for short-term rentals, has raised 9 million Saudi riyals ($2.4m) to expand operations, hire new talent and broaden its reach across the region.
The funding round was led by Riyadh-based venture capital fund Derayah Ventures. Early-stage investment specialist Seedra Ventures was also part of the financing deal.
The latest financing will help the company achieve its vision of "disrupting the alternative accommodation market” across the kingdom, Talal Al Sorayai, founder and chief executive of Mabaat, said.
“Mabaat’s innovative platform is unique as it offers property partners higher occupancy levels at attractive rates,” Mr Al Sorayai said.
Start-ups in the Middle East and North Africa secured $659m in funding in the first half of the year, an annual increase of 35 per cent, according to data platform Magnitt. In Saudi Arabia, the Arab world’s biggest economy, start-ups raised $168m in venture capital funding from 54 transactions in the first half of 2021, about 94 per cent of the amount extended to them in 2020, according to Magnitt.
Mabaat said it will use part of the new funds on marketing and boosting its brand awareness to property owners and guests. The campaign will target regional travellers seeking short-term rental solutions as it looks to build its platform to better connect guests with the suitable properties.
Founded in October 2019, Mabaat on boards properties and manages them on behalf of owners. Its offerings include mid-to-high-end private homes and compounds spread throughout the key regions in the kingdom.
The company is hiring new talent as its expands its operations over the coming months, the company said.
The tourism sector in Saudi Arabia is growing rapidly as the government and the kingdom's sovereign wealth fund spend billions of dollars on entertainment and hospitality. The sector is among the key planks of the Saudi Vision 2030 initiative that seeks to diversify the kingdom's economy and reduce its reliance on oil. The kingdom wants to grow tourism revenue to about 11.5 per cent of its gross domestic product by 2029.
“In order to realise this [goal], one of the new models considered is short-term rentals that capitalise on existing and hardly-utilised capacities,” Faris Al Rashed, head of Derayah Ventures, said.
Mabaat said its platform provides an increased level of transparency and efficiency to both property owners and guests through real-time information on booking, payment, sterilisation and property maintenance updates.
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What is a calorie?
A food calorie, or kilocalorie, is a measure of nutritional energy generated from what is consumed.
One calorie, is the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water by 1°C.
A kilocalorie represents a 1,000 true calories of energy.
Energy density figures are often quoted as calories per serving, with one gram of fat in food containing nine calories, and a gram of protein or carbohydrate providing about four.
Alcohol contains about seven calories a gram.
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
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- Have a plan for your savings.
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Ukraine 2 (Yaremchuk 06', Yarmolenko 27')
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