SmartCrowd
Dubai-based platform where individuals buy fractional shares in rental properties and renovation projects, regulated by the DFSA. Nawy acquired a majority stake in July 2025.
Industry: Fractional real estate investment | Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates | Founded: 2017 | Total Funding: USD 3.6M
About SmartCrowd
SmartCrowd is a Dubai-based real estate crowdfunding platform that lets individuals buy fractional stakes in rental properties. Once a property is fully subscribed, it is bought through a special purpose vehicle registered in the Dubai International Financial Centre. The company says investors can start from as little as AED 500, although earlier reports cited higher minimums of up to AED 5,000. The company was founded in 2017. Wamda names the founders as Abdul Kadir Faizal, Musfique Ahmed and Siddiq Farid, while other press coverage names Farid and Ahmed as co-founders. Farid is described in several profiles as co-founder and chief executive. The Dubai Financial Services Authority register lists Smart Crowd Limited with a licence date of 19 April 2018 and an endorsement to operate a crowdfunding platform. The firm first operated under the regulator's Innovation Testing Licence, and in late 2019 it announced that it had received a full DFSA licence. Its current materials describe it as the first DFSA-regulated real estate crowdfunding platform in the region. SmartCrowd offers two main products. Buy and Hold targets monthly rental income from long-term holdings. Flip, launched in June 2025, covers renovation-led projects with a nine-to-twelve-month timeline and a planned exit. The company says four Flip projects had been completed and sold by the launch, and that its average Flip investor return is 28 percent over 15 months. It also reported a first exit that delivered a 39.25 percent total net return, combining rental income and capital gains, over 17 months. These returns are company figures and are not guarantees. The platform has also expanded beyond Dubai, listing a studio on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi valued at AED 1.2 million. On funding, SmartCrowd closed a seed round of about 600,000 US dollars in 2018 led by Shorooq Investments, with Abaxx Technologies, 500 Startups and individual investors participating, according to MENAbytes and Arabian Business. In June 2022, Wamda reported a bridge round of more than 3 million dollars led by Saudi-based Mad'a Investment Company, with TriCap Investments, Amaana Capital and regional angels taking part. The company said the money would support expansion into new markets including Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Earlier releases cited more than 70 properties and over AED 50 million transacted, while a more recent company release said SmartCrowd had facilitated over AED 290 million in property investments in Dubai since inception.
Leadership
- Siddiq Farid, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (2021 to at least August 2022)
- Musfique Ahmed, Co-founder
- Abdul Kadir Faizal, Co-founder
- Musfique Ahmed, Chief Executive Officer