With the participation of well-known regional angel investors, the UAE-based neighbourhood app has successfully raised an undisclosed sum in its seed round from Plus VC, a renowned venture capital firm that invests in early-stage, tech-enabled startups in the MENA and its diaspora.
With the help of Hayi, users can establish safe neighbourhood connections with those who live closest to them and develop a feeling of community within a vibrant, real-world neighbourhood. This community app for the digital neighbourhood connects everyone and everything in the vicinity in a very different way.
When it comes to exchanging daily local recommendations, staying informed about local announcements, helping lost pets find their way home, buying and selling gently used goods, and planning neighbourhood events, Hayi is a huge hit among neighbours all over Dubai.
The funds that were recently raised will be used to expand the company’s operations, marketing initiatives, and footprint throughout the United Arab Emirates and other regions. This funding round is in response to Hayi’s accomplishments in the last year, including passing several significant benchmarks. Hayi has developed into a successful and long-lasting company over the past few months by continuously recording positive cash flow.
“We are honoured to have such strong investors who recognize Hayi’s early achievements, are confident in our growth potential, and actively support our vision and values. Their backing and support will help us achieve our short-term and long-term objectives and pioneer in this space,” said Chris Darnell, co-founder at Hayi.
“Over the past year, our strategy was to create a sticky product to lock in our users and obtain a high user retention and engagement rate. Today, we have become the primary communication channel in vibrant neighbourhoods such as Jumeirah Village Circle (JVC) in Dubai. Our goal is to focus on expanding into new areas and fostering a stronger sense of community throughout Dubai and the UAE,” he added.
Hayi is aiming to become the first neighbourhood app in MENA by capitalizing on its early-mover advantage in the market. Motivated by the widespread achievements of unicorn neighbourhood applications like Danggeun Market in South Korea and Nextdoor in the USA.
Commenting on the fundraising announcement, Hasan Haider, Managing Partner +VC, said: “Community-based apps are gaining traction as there is a growing demand for people to communicate with others in their vicinity. This is evident from the growth Hayi has witnessed month over month. Platforms such as Hayi have great potential for growth as more and more people seek strong neighbourhood connectivity, a sense of community and belonging, and improved safety and security. We are delighted to collaborate with Chris, Rene, and their team as they expand their footprints across the UAE and beyond and position Hayi as a trailblazer in this field”.
“For us, a sustainable growth path with strong cash flows was essential before considering expansion. We launched our B2B subscription service about a year ago, where we help local businesses access customers in an extremely hyper-targeted manner. Today, we are proud to have 30,000 highly engaged organic users. With Hayi, businesses can promote their offerings not only directly to a certain neighbourhood but even down to a specific apartment building. This level of geo-marketing is currently unprecedented. We have witnessed robust cash flows with 30 percent monthly recurring revenue (MRR) growth, indicating a spike in demand for Hayi and its widespread popularity. Being cash flow positive with strong revenue growth, we are excited to team up with Plus VC and our regional investors to accelerate our sustainable growth path,” said Rene Morgan, co-founder at Hayi.
Google’s #WeArePlay campaign, which honours and highlights apps from around the world, included the Hayi app last year. One of the few outstanding and well-liked apps in the United Arab Emirates is Hayi. In order to promote neighbour interaction, Hayi has also coordinated and overseen neighbourhood cleanups as well as community events. Prior to this, Sarya Holdings and Falak Startups contributed $325,000 to the company’s pre-seed funding round.
