Silkhaus closes pre-series A financing to expand digitisation of short-term rentals across GCC

Meet Silkhaus! A UAE-based proptech startup digitising short-term rentals across emerging markets.

And, they just secured a “multi-million-dollar” pre-Series A financing from San Francisco's Partners for Growth (PFG).

• The company was founded in 2021 by Aahan Bhojani and Ashmin Varma, and has grown 120% since launching 12 months ago.

💰 Investor lowdown: The investment provides Silkhaus access to an additional multi-million dollar credit line to support its expansion plans.

• Silkhaus raised $7.75 million from global investors back in 2022, in what was one of the largest seed rounds in the history of the GCC.

😷 Post-pandemic world

The size of the market opportunity for asset owners across emerging markets like MENA, South Asia and Southeast Asia?

Silkhaus anticipates it could grow to $18 billion by 2026.

It’s clear that tech will play an outsized role with the ambition of digitising a very fragmented market of property owners and managers who want to increase their property yields.

And with business travel ramping up, leisure travel steadily moving towards STRs, and remote work becoming more pervasive, if a platform could remove the variability of quality from the rental decision in emerging markets - we really think they could be on to something…

Enter Silkhaus 👋

🛠️ Break it down

Silkhaus are aiming to digitise short-term rental operations for property owners, simplifying the process of finding quality accommodations in these markets.

🏘️ For property owners. Silkhaus provides an operating system - for both large-scale and individual landlords- to manage high-quality short-term rentals. 

This system includes tools for pricing, revenue management, and distribution, offering a one-stop solution for property owners to maximise their returns.

• The company claims that their property owners earn on average 20-40% more income than through traditional rental models. 

🙋 For the guest. They ensure that the properties listed are of high quality and well-maintained, catering and personalising the experience for guests whether they are traveling for business or leisure.

• You can also avail of a discount of up to 10% if you book for more than 7 days, or up to 20% off for more than 30 days. 

The company also has a backend marketplace for third-party vendors, streamlining the management of these properties, and leverages around 60 distribution channels, including Airbnb, for its rental listings. 

🔮Flashforward: 

The fresh funding will be used to expand Silkhaus's operations across the GCC.

They recently launch in Abu Dhabi in November 2023, signalling the beginning of their planned growth into more cities in the region like Riyadh in the near future.

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