IRHM, Your Global Window into Real Estate and Hospitality

February 17, 2026

Innovation

Dubai-based AI lab Smart Bricks has secured $5 million in pre-seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz. The startup is developing agentic AI infrastructure to automate the global real estate investment process. By processing millions of data points, the platform identifies high-value opportunities and handles underwriting in minutes rather than months. The company aims to provide retail and institutional investors with the same sophisticated tools used by major private equity firms.
CapMan Buyout is set to sell its stake in PDSVISION to private equity firms Bridgepoint and Polaris after a five-year partnership. Since 2020, the software solution provider has grown its revenue fivefold to SEK 1.7 billion and expanded its operations to 15 countries. The deal, expected to complete in early 2026, marks PDSVISION's transition from a regional Nordic player to a global leader in digital engineering.
Dubai has announced a landmark AED100 billion expansion of the Dubai International Financial Centre, known as the DIFC Zabeel District. The project will double the capacity of the current financial hub to accommodate over 42,000 companies and 125,000 employees by 2040. Spanning 17.7 million square feet, the development includes a major focus on AI and future technologies, alongside residential and educational facilities.
PropTech firm Visitt has secured $22 million in Series B funding to accelerate its AI-driven property operations platform. Led by Susquehanna Growth Equity, the investment follows a massive period of growth in which the company saw its managed square footage increase by over 900 per cent in 2025. The new capital will be used to develop further AI agents and scale its customer support teams to meet rising demand across the industrial, office and retail sectors.
Blackstone Energy Transition Partners has agreed to acquire the American electrical manufacturer Arlington Industries. The deal, announced in late January, sees the global investment giant take control of a company with a 75-year history of producing fittings and enclosures. Arlington's products are central to the infrastructure of data centres and industrial facilities across the United States.
Saudi Arabia has officially opened the Hexagon Data Center in Riyadh, which is now the largest government-owned facility of its kind in the world. Classified as Tier IV, the center is a major part of the Saudi Data and AI Authority’s (SDAIA) plan to support Saudi Vision 2030. The facility spans 30 million square feet and possesses a power capacity of 480 MW. It aims to secure technical sovereignty over national data while helping to move the economy away from a reliance on oil.

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