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Funding Souq |
SmartCrowd |
What are you investing in?
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You are investing in financing SMEs in the UAE and Saudi Arabia that are seeking working capital to grow their businesses. |
- You are purchasing a fraction of a Dubai property along with a pool of other investors.
- More specifically, you become a shareholder in a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) set up for each property.
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Who can invest?
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- Funding Souq’s Global platform can onboard nearly all nationalities, allowing almost anyone to invest in UAE-based businesses.
- Funding Souq’s KSA platform can onboard only Saudi nationals and residents as per Saudi Central Bank regulation.
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Opportunities are open to nearly all international investors. |
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What is the minimum investment?
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The minimum investment is SAR/AED 1,000, or approximately $270. |
The minimum investment is AED 500. |
| What is the maximum investment? |
In the UAE
- Retail investors can invest up to AED 365,000 per year and AED 36,000 per business.
In Saudi Arabia
- Retail investors can invest up to SAR 250,000 per year and up to 25% of any opportunity’s total requested amount
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- SmartCrowd limits maximum ownership to 24.99% of any single property.
- Retail investors can invest up to AED 183,649 in any property and are restricted to AED 367,277 AED overall per calendar year. |
What returns can investors expect?
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- Investors can expect a net yield of up to 15% and a IRR of up to 23% as monthly repayments allow for returns to compound
- To understand the difference between Yield and IRR read our blog here. |
Investors earn both rental income and benefit from potential capital appreciation.
As of March 2025, SmartCrowd cites an annual return of 12.4% derived from an average holding period of 3 years and a ROI of 42% for the 3 year period.
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| When are investors paid? |
Investors receive monthly principal and profit repayments. This enables compounding as these repayments are returned. |
- Investors only receive monthly profit (rent) payments as the principal is locked away until the sale of the property.
- After a five-year holding period, investors vote on whether to sell, with a majority required to initiate a sale. Investors can also vote to sell sooner if a majority of investors want an early sale.
- SmartCrowd also offers investors a chance to sell their shares on the platform twice per year.
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| Can investors cash out early? |
Average tenure of investments are 12 months with monthly principal and profit repayment. That being said, investors recover more than 50% of their capital by month 6. However, it isn’t possible to liquidate your holding before the maturity of the loan. |
- Not always. Twice yearly share sales are only eligible on properties that have been closed for over a year.
- SmartCrowd does not guarantee the share of sales.
- SmartCrowd recommends holding properties for five years. |
What are the fees for investors?
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The returns displayed on the platform are net of any applicable fees. The presented return is what you should expect to earn.
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SmartCrowd has three fees:
- Entry Fee: 1.5% for each property investment
- Annual Administration Fee: 0.5% on total investments
- Exit Fee:2.5% of sale price upon exiting investment
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Does the platform have an Auto-Investment option?
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Once enabled, the Auto-Invest system will automatically allocate your available funds into new opportunities based on your selected investment strategy.
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Are all finance and investment operations sharia-compliant?
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Yes. You can find more
details about our Shariah certification here.
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SmartCrowd says it is in the process of obtaining a sharia-compliant certificate.
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