ATHENS: At the foot of the Acropolis hill, in the touristic Koukaki district, the coronavirus lockdown has silenced the sound of Airbnb customers’ wheeled luggage.
The tourist industry in Athens, as in many other European capitals, has ground to a halt, with planes grounded and restaurants, museums and archaeological monuments all closed.
This has left a huge hole in the Greek economy which had been recovering from a decade of crisis.
Owners of small apartments in Koukaki, who had been renting them on the Airbnb platform in order to provide income during the financial crisis, are once again struggling.
“The reservations stopped abruptly,” laments Romina Tsitou, an Airbnb host since 2014.
“I hope I won’t have to put them for long-term rental, but I may have to if this situation drags on,” she adds. For the time being her two Airbnb apartments accommodate medical staff.
Stefania Dimitroula has already put her apartment up for long-term rental.
“Since the beginning of the summer of 2018, it was fully booked via Airbnb, almost exclusively by foreign tourists,” the 32-year-old woman said, but “100 percent of the reservations for April, May and June have been canceled.”
Being unemployed, she had no other choice.
“I was counting on the earnings of this apartment, around 1,000 euros per month, to compensate for the loss of my job,” she explained, expressing pessimism about the summer season, which the Greek government is hoping to jumpstart on July 1.
Long-term rentals are becoming “a major trend,” according to Patrick Tkatschenko, a real estate agent in Athens.
“Airbnb is suffering a huge blow,” he said.
The “hard hit” American home-sharing platform announced on Tuesday that it will slash a quarter of its work force — some 1,900 people all around the world.
“We are collectively living through the most harrowing crisis of our lifetime,” Airbnb co-founder and chief executive Brian Chesky said in a blog post.
This year the San Francisco-based company’s revenue will be “less than the half” of the 2019 figure, and Chesky admits he doesn’t know when the tourists will return.
Still there are many who believe that holiday apartments, rather than hotels, have a future, as safe havens away from the crowds.
Enrique Alcantara, president of Apartur, the holiday apartment owners’ federation in Barcelona, foresees an 85 percent drop in sales revenue for 2020.
He predicts though that holiday apartments “are going to adapt more easily to the new times that lie ahead, to the new needs of the tourists, mainly as far as security is concerned.”
In Athens too, despite the staggering drop in holiday reservations, there remains a glimmer of hope.
“Tourists will benefit from private apartments in order to feel more secure in comparison with hotels where they will have to interact with more people,” Stratos Paradias, president of the Greek Federation of Property Owners and of the International Union of Property Owners, said.
He also thinks apartments that manage to stay in the short-term rental market will bounce back “faster than elsewhere” because “Greece is considered one of the safe countries thanks to the way it has handled the COVID-19 pandemic.”
In Barcelona, Sybille Campagne’s holiday letting calendar is empty.
“For July-August, all reservations were canceled,” the 43-year-old French woman explains.
Nevertheless she isn’t considering taking her apartment off the Airbnb platform because it accounts for 80 percent of all her reservations.
Juan Quilis, a 35-year-old telecom technician who owns an apartment in Seville, is also sticking with short-term rentals for the time being.
“I’m not too worried for now, because I have a savings cushion but if I see that things don’t come around, I will put my apartment in long term rental. As a last resort.”
In France, Airbnb expects to see its reservations come back swiftly thanks to its local clientele, with the French particularly fond of staycations.
Aurelien Perol, Airbnb director of communication in France, expects last-minute reservations to rise as lockdowns are lifted.
Meanwhile in Amsterdam, holiday rentals spiked in mid- April and have plummeted since, according to the local newspaper Het Parool.
A study conducted by Spitogatos, the most popular online property ads network in Greece, found a clear rise in apartments listed for long-term rentals in mid-April, accounting for 30 percent of the market in central Athens.
Spitogatos CEO Dimitris Melachroinos thinks the long-term rental sector will keep rising as it will be seen as “a safer option.”
This new turn in the real estate market will also lead to much-needed regulation of the sector.
“The short-term rentals practice grew out of control in Athens in recent years. The purge provoked by the COVID-19 crisis is necessary,” Paradias says.
In Koukaki, the number of short-time rentals skyrocketed between 2017-2019, from 360 to 1,150, according to AIRDNA, which analyzes rental platforms like Airbnb. As a result, property prices have nearly doubled causing problems for local apartment seekers.
Coronavirus pandemic a major blow for Airbnb
https://arab.news/pac2b
Coronavirus pandemic a major blow for Airbnb
- Tourist industry has ground to a halt due to coronavirus
- San Francisco-based company’s revenue will be ‘less than the half’ of the 2019 figure
Accelerating growth boosts investor confidence
- Startups attract fresh capital to scale AI, health tech, and infrastructure
RIYADH: Startups across the Middle East and North Africa are accelerating growth through strategic funding rounds, partnerships, and technological innovation.
From agriculture tech and AI-led cybersecurity to digital health and home renovation, this week’s developments reflect the region’s expanding startup ecosystem and investor confidence across key verticals.
Saudi agritech startup Nabt has raised $3.4 million in a seed extension round, bringing its total funding to $5 million.
The round was led by SHG Group, with participation from Merak Capital and several angel investors, signaling strong investor confidence in the company’s long-term growth strategy.
The funding announcement took place during a signing ceremony at the Sunbola program event under the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture.
Founded to build both physical and digital infrastructure for the fresh-produce sector, Nabt connects farmers directly with commercial buyers through fulfillment centers that handle sorting, cold storage, and last-mile logistics.
The company recently launched the Nabt Online Auction to support large-scale produce trading across the Kingdom, and Nabt Intel, which provides real-time pricing and market-demand data.
CEO Abdullah Al-Otaibi said: “In just two years, Nabt has proven that building transparent and efficient infrastructure for fresh produce is not only possible but essential.”
The new capital will support expansion into additional Saudi cities and further develop Nabt’s infrastructure and services to boost food security and farmer profitability across the country.
COGNNA raises $9.2m
COGNNA, a Saudi cybersecurity company founded in 2022, has closed a $9.2 million series A round led by Impact46 and co-led by BNVT Capital, with participation from Vision Ventures and Tali Ventures.
The company offers AI-driven security operations tailored for enterprises and SMEs through its Agentic SOC platform.
Combining AI automation with human oversight, COGNNA’s platform helps organizations simplify compliance and proactively defend against cyber threats.
Chief Technology Officer Ziyad Al-Sheri stated: “Through our AI-led platform, we are building an Agentic SOC that doesn’t just respond to threats — it anticipates them.”
The funding will be used to accelerate global expansion, enhance R&D in AI automation, and scale operational teams and infrastructure to meet growing demand.
The company plans to allocate capital across product development, marketing, hiring, and international operations.
Funch raises $500k
Funch, a Dubai-based AI-native lunch subscription startup, has secured $500,000 in a pre-seed round led by Angelspark, with participation from investors including Mostafa Kandil, Mahesh Murthy, and Tushar F.
Founded in 2025 by Ahmad Joehnny and Ghada Zanaty, the platform offers flexible, credit-based lunch subscriptions for 19 Emirati dirhams per day with no delivery fees.
Funch replaces traditional meal plans with a system where users can pause, skip, or cancel orders while using credits only when meals are delivered.
“Our model is built around pre-planned orders, enabling us to operate with higher efficiency, reduce waste, and cut emissions with fewer trips,” said co-founder and chief operating officer Ghada Zanaty.
The company leverages AI to forecast demand, optimize routes, rotate menus, and streamline logistics, and will use the funding to scale across Dubai and develop its AI systems further.
Paymob teams up with Robusta
Egyptian fintech Paymob and software development firm Robusta Technology Group have announced a strategic partnership to accelerate digital transformation across Egypt and the wider region.
The collaboration will integrate Paymob’s digital payments infrastructure with Robusta’s AI-driven product development and analytics capabilities.
The joint initiative aims to deliver intelligent digital experiences for SMEs and enterprises, supporting Egypt’s Vision 2030 goals.
Both companies plan to expand regionally and develop future offerings combining automation, analytics, and seamless payment systems to improve operational efficiency for merchants and startups.
Reno raises $4m
UAE-based renovation technology platform Reno has raised $4 million in a mix of equity and debt funding.
The round included investments from Sanabil 500, Hub71, and Plus VC, as well as Zero 100 VC, FlyerOne Ventures, and Sandstorm VC. AngelSpark and Swiss Founders Fund also invested.
Founded in 2024 by Marc Michel, Amr Hosny, and Farah Karabeg, Reno offers a tech-enabled, end-to-end solution for interior design and renovation services in both residential and commercial sectors.
Reno aims to streamline the renovation process through a unified digital platform, allowing customers to manage projects from planning through execution.
The company plans to use the new capital to expand across the GCC region, enhance its technological infrastructure, and further develop its customer experience.
Glenwood PE and Mubadala invest in Korean desalination firm NanoH2O
Glenwood Private Equity and Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company, along with co-investors, have completed a co-investment in NanoH2O, a Seoul-based reverse osmosis membrane manufacturer previously operating as LG Water Solutions under LG Chem.
All closing conditions and regulatory approvals for the investment have been fulfilled.
NanoH2O, which became an independent entity in 2024, supplies desalination and brackish water treatment solutions to municipal and industrial clients worldwide. More than 95 percent of its revenue is generated outside South Korea.
“We have strong conviction in NanoH2O’s technology leadership and long-term growth potential,” said Mohamed Al-Badr, head of Asia at Mubadala.
The firm aims to support NanoH2O’s global expansion, particularly in the MENA region, amid growing concerns over water security and decarbonization.
