estaie Raises 7-Figure Pre-Seed Round to Build the World’s First AI-Native Extended-Stay Platform

Mustafa Eid, Dubai, United Arab Emirates — April 1, 2026:

estaie, the world’s first AI-native extended-stay platform, announced it has raised a 7-figure pre-seed funding round led by PlusVC and Orbit Ventures, with participation from Falak Angels, Value Makers Studio (VMS), Vasil Zdravkov.

estaie is supported by in5, Dubai’s leading start-up incubator, founded by TECOM Group PJSC. The funding will accelerate estaie’s expansion across the region, with a strategic scaling focus on Saudi Arabia as the company expands from Dubai to Riyadh.

Founded in 2025, estaie is led by Founder and CEO Osama Shawky, a six-time founder with three exits, who previously led commercial departments at global multinationals including Orange Business and Concentrix, alongside CTO and Co-founder Nimit Solanki, an AI, tech, and product leader formerly at Careem, Grab, and Deutsche Telekom, and COO and Co-founder Mark Reed, a travel and hospitality executive with experience at Finnair, Trailfinders, and The Walt Disney Company.

estaie was designed from day one to address one of the most structurally underserved segments in hospitality: long and extended stays, which sit between traditional hotels, residential leasing, and corporate travel. While short-stay travel is dominated by platforms built around nightly pricing logic, extended stay remains fragmented across disconnected operators, inconsistent pricing models, manual processes, and outdated distribution systems. The result is systemic inefficiency, including underutilized inventory, lost revenue for operators, and poor discovery and pricing transparency for guests. Built as a category-defining platform from the ground up, estaie’s core technology is designed in-house and supported by three pending patents.

Osama Shawky, Founder and CEO of estaie, commented:

“Extended stay is a massive, fast-growing category that has been operating without the infrastructure it deserves. estaie is being built as an AI-native operating layer for long-term stays, bringing together demand, pricing intelligence, and ecosystem connectivity into a single platform. We’re grateful for the support of our investors as we accelerate our expansion across the region and build the category-defining platform for extended stay.”

Hasan Haider, Founder and Managing Partner of Plus VC, said:

“estaie is building the category-defining platform for long-term stays, addressing a fast-growing yet underserved segment of the hospitality market. Operating at the intersection of real estate, travel, and technology, estaie’s platform has the potential to transform how extended stays are discovered, booked, and managed. This aligns strongly with Plus VC’s commitment to backing disruptive, tech-enabled startups that are redefining traditional industries and creating new market categories. We are pleased to support Osama, Mark, Nimit, and the team as they scale and establish themselves as leaders in the extended-stay sector.”

William Bao Bean, Managing General Partner of Orbit Ventures, said:

“The MENA region is experiencing a dynamic transformation, attracting the best talent from around the world. estaie is enabling workers to book stays of a month or longer at significantly lower rates, reducing the historical barriers to living and working in the region. At the same time, they are unlocking new revenue opportunities for their hotel partners, digitizing a very traditional business with manual execution.”

Moataz Abuonq, CEO, Value Makers Studio (VMS), said:

“At VMS, we participated in this round through a direct cash investment in estaie, reflecting our commitment to backing founders who build new market categories and transform traditional sectors. Operating at the intersection of hospitality, real estate, and technology, estaie is well-positioned to capture growing demand for tech-enabled extended stays in Saudi Arabia under Vision 2030. Beyond capital, we are supporting the team on market entry, partnerships, and institutional access to ensure sustainable expansion in the Kingdom. We are proud to back Osama and the estaie team as they scale across the region, with Saudi Arabia as a strategic growth market.”

The startup has already demonstrated strong early traction since its launch in April 2025 across both supply acquisition and demand growth. To date, the company has signed 400+ hotels and 1,000+ holiday homes, including three major regional agreements, establishing a meaningful foundation of extended-stay inventory. On the demand side, guests have booked 3,000+ room nights through estaie com, with consistent momentum and 17–18% month-over-month growth, positioning estaie among the fastest-growing hospitality technology startups in the region.

estaie is a UAE-based extended-stay platform specializing in bookings from 30 to 365 nights, offering a guaranteed minimum discount of 32% compared to other providers. Designed for long-term travelers, the platform combines seamless booking with AI-driven dynamic pricing to deliver exceptional value and flexibility.

estaie features an exclusive portfolio of hotels, serviced apartments, and Airbnb properties, all optimized for extended stays. With transparent, all-inclusive pricing, no hidden fees, and zero booking charges, Estaie is redefining the extended-stay experience for digital nomads, business travelers, relocating families, and enterprise clients worldwide.

In this context, on the other hand, there are many related sector news items that you can follow. For example, we highlight the most important ones in the following list:

• «إستاي» الإماراتية تُغلق جولة تمويل تأسيسية من 7 أرقام لبناء أول منصة عالمية للحجوزات طويلة الأمد
• تمويلات الشركات الناشئة ضمن حاضنة «in5» الإماراتية تتجاوز 820 مليون دولار درهم في 2023