Dubai Built a Global Real Estate Powerhouse. Now Changer Wants to Back the Technology Behind Its Next Chapter.

DUBAI, UAE, 28 October 2026 - Dubai has already demonstrated how quickly a city can transform its physical landscape. Its next ambition is to become a global centre for the technology powering real estate, from artificial intelligence and building automation to digital property infrastructure.

That ambition is now attracting a different kind of investor.

Changer Club, an international private investment and family development community whose members represent a reported $25 billion in combined wealth, has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Dubai PropTech Business Group, becoming its official investment partner.

The agreement connects Changer's international network of entrepreneurs and private investors with one of Dubai's growing communities of property technology companies, creating a new channel for identifying and evaluating investment opportunities with potential beyond the UAE.

From building real estate to exporting real estate technology

Dubai's real estate boom is well documented. Less visible is the technology ecosystem emerging behind it.

The Dubai PropTech Business Group, established in 2024 in collaboration with the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Dubai Land Department, reported more than 260 active members and 200 participating companies at its first anniversary. During its first year, it organised five investment pitching events, connecting entrepreneurs developing real estate technology with investors and industry leaders.

The opportunity is becoming increasingly significant.

According to Dubai government figures, the emirate's PropTech market was worth approximately AED 2.2 billion in 2023, with an official ambition to more than double its value to over AED 4.5 billion.

Dubai's wider strategy includes attracting international technology companies, accelerating innovation in the built environment, and positioning the emirate as an exporter of real estate solutions.

For investors, the opportunity increasingly extends beyond Dubai property itself.

The next wave of value may be created by companies developing technologies that make buildings more intelligent, property operations more efficient, and real estate transactions more transparent.

And those technologies need not stop at the UAE's borders.

Connecting Dubai innovation with international private capital

Under the new partnership, Changer will serve as an investment partner to the Dubai PropTech Business Group, with opportunities to identify and evaluate promising companies within its ecosystem.

Founded in 2019, Changer brings together 270 entrepreneurial families across 21 countries, with a company-reported combined net worth of $25 billion. It operates two chapters: Zurich for Europe and Dubai for the Middle East.

Its members include entrepreneurs, business owners, and investors who have built and exited companies across multiple industries.

Through its investment syndicate, Changer has completed 31 technology investment transactions in the US, Europe and, more recently, the Gulf. Members have experienced two recent exits: IQM, a quantum computing company in Finland, where members achieved a 2.2x return, and Udemy.

Jonas Rolo, Co-Founder of Changer Club and Chairman of MENA, commented:

“Dubai has already shown the world how to build extraordinary real estate. We believe its next opportunity is to build extraordinary real estate technology.

We are not here to invest in another skyscraper. We are here to discover technologies born in Dubai that could transform real estate from London to New York.

Our members have built successful businesses themselves. They understand that capital alone is rarely enough. The real value comes when investment is combined with entrepreneurial experience, global relationships and the ambition to build something that lasts.”

The partnership creates an opportunity to connect Dubai-based PropTech businesses with experienced international entrepreneurs who can potentially contribute not only capital, but also industry knowledge, commercial relationships, and access to markets.

Importantly, the focus is not limited to investing in the Dubai real estate market. It is on identifying technologies developed or scaled in Dubai that could become relevant to property industries internationally.

The next opportunity is not necessarily another building

For decades, the investment thesis around Dubai has largely centred on land, development, hospitality, and the financial returns generated by a growing international city.

PropTech introduces a different possibility: technology businesses whose markets can extend far beyond the physical assets located in Dubai.

Artificial intelligence could change how property portfolios are operated. Predictive maintenance could improve the economics of large residential communities. Digital infrastructure and data-driven platforms could reshape property transactions, development, and asset management.

For Dubai, the potential extends beyond operational efficiencies. A successful PropTech company developed in the UAE could compete across international real estate markets without being constrained by the geographic limits of a single property portfolio.

Fadi Nwilati, Chairman of Dubai PropTech Business Group, said:

“Dubai has become one of the world's most dynamic real estate markets. Our ambition now is to help the technologies emerging from this ecosystem become global businesses.

Through our cooperation with Changer, we can connect innovative PropTech companies with international entrepreneurial families who bring investment experience, commercial expertise and access to markets.

We want the next generation of successful real estate technology companies to emerge from Dubai and compete on the world stage.”

An investment model built around entrepreneurial families

Changer's approach to investing also differs from that of a conventional venture capital fund.

The club brings together successful founders and their families, encouraging principals and next-generation family members to evaluate technology companies together.

For Changer, investment opportunities are both potential financial transactions and a means for experienced entrepreneurs to remain engaged with emerging technologies while developing the judgment of the next generation.

This approach reflects the club's broader mission: to help successful entrepreneurial families continue building, rather than simply preserve and transfer the wealth they have accumulated.

The Dubai PropTech Business Group partnership creates a new intersection between that mission and Dubai's ambition to develop globally competitive technology businesses.

Dubai's next success story could be built for the world

With Dubai advancing its Real Estate Strategy 2033, property technology is moving from a specialist category into an increasingly important part of the emirate's economic agenda.

The agreement between Changer and Dubai PropTech Business Group adds an international private-investor connection to that emerging ecosystem.

For participating entrepreneurs, it opens another route to engage with experienced investors. For Changer's members, it provides exposure to companies developing solutions within one of the world's most active real estate markets.

The ultimate measure of the partnership will not be the number of companies that pitch.

It will be whether promising technologies emerging from Dubai can secure the investment, expertise, and international relationships needed to become businesses that compete around the world.

Dubai has already shown the world how to build a city. The next opportunity is to build technologies the world's cities will use.

About Changer Club

Founded in 2019 and headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, Changer is a private international community for successful entrepreneurs and their families, with activities in Dubai and Zurich. The club combines exposure to world-class thinkers, including Mark Randolph, founder of Netflix, who was hosted in Dubai, with curated technology co-investment opportunities and multigenerational development. It brings founders, spouses, and heirs into a shared environment of learning and investment.

Changer unites 270 entrepreneurial families, representing an aggregate net worth of approximately $25 billion. Its members include families from across the Middle East: the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt.

Website: www.clubchanger.com

About Dubai PropTech Business Group

The Dubai PropTech Business Group is a Dubai-based industry association established in 2024 to support innovation and collaboration across the real estate technology sector. Operating within the Dubai Chamber of Commerce business group ecosystem and collaborating with Dubai Land Department, it brings together entrepreneurs, technology companies, real estate professionals, and investors to support the sector's development.

Website: www.dxbproptech.com

Media enquiries

Changer Club
Julia Stradina, Head of Development
j.stradina@clubchanger.com
+41 78 303 1059