Kuwait, October 15, 2017: Ajar Online, a fintech startup based in Kuwait, closed a second investment in a round led by Dubai-based venture firm BECO Capital, followed by an investment from Sharq Ventures, since late 2016.
Ajar Online is a cloud service designed for the real estate market, offering quick and secure online rent collection and a free property management platform.
The service allows tenants to pay their rent online, at anytime and anywhere via SMS and email in less than 60 seconds. Simplifying the rent collection process for landlords and providing efficient property management tools to save time, reduce cost and take the right decisions.
The company’s CEO, Shaheen AlKhudari, states: “We aim to be the leading platform for property management and online payments in the real estate market, creating the tools to make the industry better and smarter, through using latest technology and security measures. We envision real-estate investors and owners, confidently making the right decisions about their investment and leases. We help landlords to easily manage multiple properties and rent collections anytime and anywhere, reducing the need for hundreds of hours of manual office work, and saving thousands of dollars”.
Moreover; Shaheen emphasizes that this investment supports Ajar Online’s growth in the region by upgrading the current services, and releasing new tools for the landlords. With offices in Kuwait and representatives available in Dubai and Saudi Arabia, they are actively pursuing to increase their workforce by hiring entrepreneurial talents to join their passionate team. Ajar Online seeks to provide its online services for the global market by early 2018.
Yousef Hammad, Managing Partner at BECO Capital emphasized saying “Ajar Online has merely begun to scratch the surface of digitizing and advancing the rental industry, the opportunity in this space is tremendous. Shaheen and his team represent what we look for in teams; hard work, domain expertise and extremely passionate about their business, their industry and their region.
Hamoud S Al-Sabah, Partner at Sharq Ventures stated “Ajar Online is leading the new wave of property management solutions, using the next generation of technology to create tranquility for landlords and innovative customer experience for tenants. “We’ve been watching Shaheen’s activities since he was a student in the business college, and his work in the private sector in Kuwait, and if he was determined… things start happening with a success story!”
Sharq Ventures Partner Abdulrazaq Al-Mutawa summed it in a sentence stating, “Ajar will redefine the real estate sector in the MENA region”
The idea for Ajar Online came as a result of its CEO’s determination to bring an end to the hassle of paying his monthly rent.
“It was a nightmare, I could only choose from inconvenient methods – either chasing my landlord, getting stuck in a queue at the bank to deposit a payment or make a bank transfer, or always writing cheques not to mention the long paper trails for all receipts,” Shaheen says.
He worked to validate the idea in 2015 by researching the real estate market, specifically its traditional methods of rent payment and property management. He concluded that both tenants and landlords were feeling the same pain, which all stemmed from inadequate payment methods. It was a common issue for landlords who owned just one property, or thousands.
Seizing the opportunity, he brought together the right resources to turn the idea into reality. The beta version was released in late 2015, with a full live cloud solution launched that August. In October of the same year, Ajar Online signed a non-exclusive partnership with Warba Bank to empower their solution, and by January 2016 they officially established the company.
Today, Ajar Online provides optimum free property management solutions by digitizing rent payment and collection services in an effective manner. The team behind Ajar Online and its investors form the backbone of the company, utilizing their know-how to make the product stand out in the market.
As the first rent collection platform in the MENA region, Ajar Online enjoys a strong first-mover advantage giving them the ability to cover the region’s real estate market. The company plans to strengthen their presence by scaling globally using their distinguished platform and its ability to serve landlords and tenants at any time and in any location.
Moving forward, their timeline consists of creating further enhancements for their property management solutions, with one of their main strengths being the rent payment and collection feature. The team at Ajar Online eagerly aims to be the leading property management and rent payment solutions provider, reducing the hassle of a once time-consuming process by managing properties online.
About BECO Capital
BECO Capital is a Venture Capital firm with a thoughtful approach to investing, providing early stage growth capital and hands-on operational support for innovative technology companies in the MENA region.
About Sharq Ventures
Sharq Ventures is a Kuwait Based Venture capital firm that focuses on early stage companies in the Fintech sector. Sharq Ventures invest in Startups led by creative thinkers and smart people providing solutions.
About Ajar Online
Ajar Online is a cloud service designed for the real estate market, offering quick and secure online rent collection and a free property management platform.
