News

Dubai-Based Startup Huspy Helps Emiratis Buy Homes Online

Instead of having to wait months to secure a home mortgage, Huspy lets users search over 500 home loan options in seconds.

Published

5 years ago

April 27, 2021

Joanna Melki

Huspy

Buying a home is a stressful process. Not only is it becoming increasingly difficult to find reasonably priced properties that are also attractive to live in, but the mortgage process, which most buyers have to go through, is time-consuming and full of potential traps. While the first problem won’t most likely be solved any time soon, there’s one Dubai-based startup that’s actively trying to address the second issue, and its name is Huspy.

Essentially, Huspy is an online mortgage platform that facilitates hassle-free financing for people who would like to live in Dubai. It was founded in August 2020 by chief executive officer Jad Antoun and chief technology officer Khalid Al Ashmawy, who understand the local market through first-hand experience.

Huspy Application Process

“We started Huspy with the aim to disrupt one of the largest industries and bring the entire home loan process online. Customers are massively underserved where lack of visibility, poor customer experience, and overpayment are common problems. We want to solve for that,” said Antoun. “The team has built tools and systems to leverage technology in a highly operational business to give us the ability to provide customers with the best rates, faster mortgage close times and a great digital experience,” added Ashmawy.

Also Read: Sarwa Helps UAE Residents Easily Invest In Global Stocks

Instead of having to wait up to 10 weeks to secure a mortgage, Huspy lets its users search over 500 home loan options in seconds to find the one that fits them the best. That way, it’s possible to get a personalized home loan three times faster and secure the best price possible. Best of all, Huspy doesn’t charge its users broker fees at all. Instead, it makes money by charging the banks a commission for every loan.

Huspy is available on iOS as well as Android, and you can download it yourself right now to see what it has to offer. The startup is backed by leading tech investors, including VentureFriends, B&Y Ventures, and Plug and Play, so you know your mortgage will be in good hands.

Related Topics:Dubai Huspy PropTech United Arab Emirates

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News

Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon

Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.

Published

2 weeks ago

August 27, 2026

Dana Saadeh

visa's return to syria starts with a test and a bank in lebanon

Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.

The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.

Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc

— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026

“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.

Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.

Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget

The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.

Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.