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Dubizzle Group has invested in Takeem, the proptech company behind the Takeem Rental Guarantee, to strengthen the UAE’s rental ecosystem. The investment gives Takeem distribution through Dubizzle Group’s property platforms, including Bayut and dubizzle, as the company extends rent-default protection to a wider base of landlords and agents. The companies have not disclosed the size or terms of the investment.
What the Takeem Rental Guarantee does
Rakesh Mavath, Co-founder and CEO of Takeem, described how the guarantee works:
“It’s a guarantee if the tenant defaults, the landlord still gets paid, the product is backed by large local and international underwriters. We offer the TRG to our customers along with our Emergency Maintenance cover and Takeem Direct Debit payments.”
That means the risk of a defaulting tenant sits with underwriters rather than the landlord or agent, and the guarantee is bundled with two other Takeem products rather than sold as a single standalone policy.
Why the partnership matters
For Dubizzle Group’s property platforms
Mavath framed the investment as a distribution move rather than just a funding event: “This puts rent protection where the entire market already is. For Takeem, it’s the distribution that turns a product into infrastructure.” Rolling the Rental Guarantee out across Bayut and dubizzle puts it in front of landlords and agents at the point where they are already listing and managing properties, rather than requiring a separate signup with a standalone provider.
For UAE landlords and agents
For landlords and agents, the practical change is a structured way to remove default risk without arranging their own underwriting relationship. Mavath said the deal gives the UAE rental market “a structured way to take default risk off the table for landlords and agents,” backed by external underwriters rather than Takeem carrying the risk itself.
What’s next
Mavath said Takeem’s near-term plan is deliberately narrow: “The next 12 months are about depth, not breadth. UAE first, rolling the Rental Guarantee out across Bayut and dubizzle, scaling our other experiences alongside it, and growing the team to match. The GCC is the obvious horizon, but we’d rather own this market properly than plant flags.”
That rules out a near-term regional expansion. The stated priority is completing the Bayut and dubizzle rollout, growing Emergency Maintenance and Direct Debit alongside it, and building out the team, with GCC expansion treated as a later horizon rather than a current plan.
What is the Takeem Rental Guarantee (TRG)?
A Takeem Rental Guarantee that a landlord still gets paid if a tenant defaults, backed by large local and international underwriters.
What other products does Takeem offer?
Emergency Maintenance cover and Takeem Direct Debit payments, alongside the Rental Guarantee.
Where will the Rental Guarantee roll out?
Across Dubizzle Group’s Bayut and dubizzle platforms in the UAE.
Is Takeem expanding beyond the UAE soon?
Not in the next 12 months. Mavath says the GCC is ‘the obvious horizon,’ but Takeem’s near-term focus is the UAE.
Editor’s take: The most useful line here is Mavath actually explaining the mechanism: an outside underwriter carries the default risk, not Takeem itself. That’s the difference between a marketing claim and something a landlord can actually check. The ‘depth not breadth’ answer is similarly concrete: a specific commitment to the UAE for the next 12 months rather than a vague regional growth line.