Keyper raises USD 11 mn to make annual rent cheques less painful

UAE proptech Keyper raised USD 11 mn to push monthly rent payments further into a market still built around the annual cheque, according to a press release. The round was led by Speedinvest, alongside our friends at Mashreq’s VC arm NeoVentures and Dar Ventures, MEVP, Dubai Future District Fund, Property Finder, Arab National Bank, Ellington Properties, and Abbey Road Investment Group. The round follows an earlier USD 4 mn series A round and a USD 30 mn sukuk agreement with Franklin Templeton.

What Keyper does: The UAE-based proptech lets tenants convert annual rent payments into monthly digital installments, while landlords still receive upfront rental income. The company combines rent payments, property management tech, and embedded financial services in one platform. It now supports more than 10.5k properties valued at over USD 6 bn and serves 4k landlords. It says it has financed more than USD 44 mn in rent value since launch, including USD 19 mn so far this year.

Keyper has been laying the rails for this for a while. The company teamed up with Dubai First and FAB to let tenants pay rent through its platform using FAB or Dubai First Mastercards and became the first user of DIFC's API-based real estate data solution. Two of its other tie-ups have since turned into backing. It partnered with Property Finder to bring rent-now-pay-monthly options onto the listings platform and struck an integration agreement with Ellington Properties, covering digital rental management, automated rent collection, live market data, and in-app financing — both Property Finder and Ellington Properties are now among the Series A’s investors.

What’s next: The fresh capital will go toward scaling Keyper’s monthly rent payment platform, bringing in more institutional landlords and large residential portfolios, launching new financing and liquidity products for property owners and expanding its property-management services.