$8M Seed at $40M post. 22-month runway to Series A traction.
DUNE is raising $8M Series Seed to build and launch Africa's first vertically integrated trust platform for residential real estate. The fundraise capitalizes a 22-month build (Nigeria MVP through Phase 1 expansion), with a path to $48M ARR Year 5 (Nigeria) and $220M ARR Year 7 (pan-African).
African real estate is a $1.4 trillion asset class with zero institutional trust infrastructure.
Every transaction is a leap of faith. 33% of Nigerian transactions involve fraud or disputed title. Diaspora capital — $5.4B/year flowing toward Nigerian property alone — mostly never closes safely. Existing platforms are classifieds. DUNE is the trust operating system the asset class has been waiting for: verified listings, escrow at a CBN-licensed Tier 1 bank, legal partner title review, Concierge inspection for diaspora, independent dispute resolution. Four trust subsystems, jurisdiction-agnostic, deployable in 90 days per new market. Win in Nigeria; the moat compounds across seven African markets.
A market sized by the absence of competition.
DUNE doesn't compete with classifieds. DUNE competes against a vacuum. Below is the addressable opportunity, sized conservatively.
Total African residential property asset value. Includes formal and informal markets across the seven launch jurisdictions and adjacent.
Annual residential GMV across Nigeria (Lagos $24B + Abuja $8B), Ghana ($4B), Kenya ($6B), Rwanda ($0.8B), plus secondary cities and diaspora flows.
GMV transacting through DUNE by Year 5 at conservative 1.2% capture of Nigeria + Phase 1 SAM. ARR at $48M with 82% contribution margin.
Diversified, mostly recurring, with one large transaction-take.
Trust platforms can charge for verification, custody, listing placement, and value-added services. DUNE charges for all four — with diversification across one transaction-take revenue line (escrow) and four recurring/service lines.
Escrow fees
0.4% OF TRANSACTION VALUE
Primary revenue line. Standard 0.4% with Trust Score rebates down to 0.25% for Diamond agents. ~70% of Year 5 ARR. Capped at ₦5M per transaction; floor at ₦25K.
Featured Boost
₦25,000 PER 30-DAY PLACEMENT
Premium listing placement. Higher in search, featured in city carousel, included in diaspora curated picks. Diamond agents get 30% off. ~8% of Year 5 ARR.
Legal Reviewed (D3)
₦150,000 PER TITLE REVIEW
O.J | Richards performs the title review, issues clean-title opinion, and DUNE issues the D3 badge. DUNE retains 30% as platform fee; firm retains 70%. ~10% of Year 5 ARR.
DUNE Concierge
₦150K-650K PER INSPECTION
Vetted inspector dispatched for diaspora buyers. Live walkthrough, certified report. Three tiers based on property type and inspection depth. DUNE retains 40%; inspector retains 60%. ~8% of Year 5 ARR.
Wallet FX margin
0.3% ON DIASPORA FUNDING
USD wire, GBP via Wise, USDC via Circle. CBN-published rate plus margin. ~3% of Year 5 ARR but scales hard with diaspora adoption (the higher-LTV segment).
Standard listing fees
₦5,000-10,000 PER 30 DAYS
Base listing fee per active property. Floor that supports unit economics on volume; not the primary lever. ~1% of Year 5 ARR.
22 months of runway. Five capital allocations.
Engineering ($3.04M). Lead engineer + 6 senior engineers + DevOps + product designer over 22 months. Build complete platform per Engineering RFP. The largest line because the product is the moat.
Operations ($1.76M). Verification Officers (×4), Dispute Officers (×2), Concierge inspectors (×8), Compliance Lead. The human infrastructure that makes trust delivery defensible.
GTM ($1.44M). Head of GTM, diaspora press in UK/US/Canada, agent acquisition, brand activation, partnership development.
Regulatory ($960K). CBN PSP-Lite path, NDPR DPO, legal counsel (NG + UK + US), ISO 27001 audit prep, AML controls.
Reserve ($800K). 10% reserve for opportunistic hires, partner shortfalls, regulatory surprises, currency exposure.
A path from MVP to $220M ARR.
Below is the projected ARR trajectory at conservative assumptions. Year 5 is "Nigeria scaled, Phase 1 launched." Year 7 is "pan-African operational." 82% contribution margin reflects software economics with operations layered in.
Why the position compounds.
Classifieds are commodities; trust is not. Below are the four moats DUNE compounds with every transaction.
Partner network
Zenith Bank trust account, O.J | Richards legal review, YouVerify NIN, Lagos State Lands Bureau integration. 90-day partner stack per market — competitors face years of relationship-building.
Regulatory posture
CBN PSP-Lite path, NDPR DPO, ISO 27001 alignment, PwC audit. Built compliant from day one — competitors retrofit and lose 18 months of runway to it.
Trust Score flywheel
Every closed transaction strengthens DUNE Identity, DUNE Documents, and DUNE Trust Score. The data compounds. Competitor day one is DUNE day 1,800.
Trust as positioning
DUNE is positioned as institutional trust infrastructure. The brand discipline (this site, the deck, the partner network) signals seriousness. In a market of scammers, looking serious is half the moat.
For qualified investors actively evaluating Series Seed.
The full diligence package.
Master PRD, 16-slide deck, Engineering RFP, financial model, partner letters (Zenith and O.J | Richards), regulatory memos, executive summary. Available under NDA to qualified investors. Founder available for diligence conversations.