Aldar Properties is investing in European venture capital firm Pi Labs' latest property technology fund which supports early stage start-ups in the sector around the globe.
Pi Labs’ Fund III, Europe’s largest early stage PropTech fund, attracted $90 million from a range of blue-chip institutional investors from around the world, including Abu Dhabi developer Aldar, Dutch pension provider APRG and London developer King’s Cross Central.
Through the investment, Aldar plans to tap Pi Labs’ network of early stage PropTech start-ups and gain “access to a market that attracted more than $17 billion in funding globally in 2021 alone”, said Maan Al Awlaqi, executive director for strategy and transformation at Aldar Properties.
Pi Labs' $90m investment platform, its third and largest, will focus on companies with innovative technology addressing challenges such as sustainability, the future of work and retail, robotics, the metaverse, industrial technology solutions, construction and smart cities.
These “ventures that are revolutionising the real estate sector and tackling priority areas for Aldar within its ecosystem”, are another area of focus for Aldar, Mr Al Awlaqi said.
“At Aldar, start-up investment is categorised within three funding platforms that form a key tenet of our innovation strategy: business ideas born internally, regional partnerships with incubators and accelerators, and PropTech focused investment funds,” Mr Al Awlaqi said.
Aldar, the UAE’s biggest listed developer, revamped its business early last year and adopted a new operating model with a parent company overseeing its core development and investment businesses.
In May, Aldar teamed up with US venture capital firm Fifth Wall to invest in a fund focused on supporting PropTech start-ups in Europe, and also unveiled its own inaugural accelerator programme to scout and invest in companies within this sector.
Mr Al Awlaqi said the Pi Labs' investment was "a stepping stone" on the company's "path to quickly and rationally asses investment co-opportunities in start-ups, with the view to launching pilot trials across our diversified portfolio, bringing next-generation technology and talent to Aldar and Abu Dhabi".
Mubadala, one of Aldar’s main shareholders, has also been actively investing actively in PropTech, participating in the $100m equity raise completed last year by London-based Plentific, another Pi Labs portfolio company.
Pi Labs latest PropTech fund, which was heavily oversubscribed, will identify the next generation of start-ups in the sector around the globe — from pre-seed to series A stage — with the average investment ranging from $500,000 to $1.5m per deal, plus follow-on capital.
The fund will focus on start-ups that have developed proprietary technology to enhance any stage of the real estate value chain.
Through this latest fundraising exercise, Pi Labs, which has a portfolio of 60 companies across 15 countries on four continents, is looking to almost double its portfolio to more than 100 companies by 2025.
The $90m investment platform is also looking to back the next global PropTech start-up valued at more than $1bn, with plans to make use of capital during later-stage rounds to turbocharge the scaling up of the sector’s most promising companies.
To date, Fund III has made 21 investments, including in US-based warehouse management platform Fulfilld’s $2.5m seed round, which involved former Amazon chief executive Jeff Wilke, London-based augmented reality start-up Dent Reality’s $3.4m seed round and Vienna-based sustainability company GreenPass.
“Raising close to $100m against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic is unprecedented for a fund that primarily targets early stage PropTech ventures," said Faisal Butt, chief executive and Founder of Pi Labs.
"Our fund being 40 per cent oversubscribed positions us to deploy significant quantities of capital, alongside blue-chip institutions, into global markets where PropTech start-ups are reshaping real estate sub-sectors prime for disruption."
Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
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Director: Spike Lee
Starring: John David Washington; Adam Driver
Five stars
Stats at a glance:
Cost: 1.05 billion pounds (Dh 4.8 billion)
Number in service: 6
Complement 191 (space for up to 285)
Top speed: over 32 knots
Range: Over 7,000 nautical miles
Length 152.4 m
Displacement: 8,700 tonnes
Beam: 21.2 m
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Fines for littering
In Dubai:
Dh200 for littering or spitting in the Dubai Metro
Dh500 for throwing cigarette butts or chewing gum on the floor, or littering from a vehicle.
Dh1,000 for littering on a beach, spitting in public places, throwing a cigarette butt from a vehicle
In Sharjah and other emirates
Dh500 for littering - including cigarette butts and chewing gum - in public places and beaches in Sharjah
Dh2,000 for littering in Sharjah deserts
Dh500 for littering from a vehicle in Ras Al Khaimah
Dh1,000 for littering from a car in Abu Dhabi
Dh1,000 to Dh100,000 for dumping waste in residential or public areas in Al Ain
Dh10,000 for littering at Ajman's beaches
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Engine: Duel electric motors
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What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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How to vote
Canadians living in the UAE can register to vote online and be added to the International Register of Electors.
They'll then be sent a special ballot voting kit by mail either to their address, the Consulate General of Canada to the UAE in Dubai or The Embassy of Canada in Abu Dhabi
Registered voters mark the ballot with their choice and must send it back by 6pm Eastern time on October 21 (2am next Friday)
Generation Start-up: Awok company profile
Started: 2013
Founder: Ulugbek Yuldashev
Sector: e-commerce
Size: 600 plus
Stage: still in talks with VCs
Principal Investors: self-financed by founder
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'My Son'
Director: Christian Carion
Starring: James McAvoy, Claire Foy, Tom Cullen, Gary Lewis
Rating: 2/5
Teachers' pay - what you need to know
Pay varies significantly depending on the school, its rating and the curriculum. Here's a rough guide as of January 2021:
- top end schools tend to pay Dh16,000-17,000 a month - plus a monthly housing allowance of up to Dh6,000. These tend to be British curriculum schools rated 'outstanding' or 'very good', followed by American schools
- average salary across curriculums and skill levels is about Dh10,000, recruiters say
- it is becoming more common for schools to provide accommodation, sometimes in an apartment block with other teachers, rather than hand teachers a cash housing allowance
- some strong performing schools have cut back on salaries since the pandemic began, sometimes offering Dh16,000 including the housing allowance, which reflects the slump in rental costs, and sheer demand for jobs
- maths and science teachers are most in demand and some schools will pay up to Dh3,000 more than other teachers in recognition of their technical skills
- at the other end of the market, teachers in some Indian schools, where fees are lower and competition among applicants is intense, can be paid as low as Dh3,000 per month
- in Indian schools, it has also become common for teachers to share residential accommodation, living in a block with colleagues
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
The years Ramadan fell in May
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Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
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Price: From Dh439,000
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Galaxy: Dos Santos (79', 88')
United: Rashford (2', 20'), Fellaini (26'), Mkhitaryan (67'), Martial (72')
Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
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