XOTO and Ikonic International Form 50:50 Venture to Scale UAE Property Platform

XOTO, a Dubai-based property technology company, has entered a 50:50 joint venture with Ikonic International to take its AI-powered property and mortgage platform across the UAE.

The platform is built for brokers rather than end buyers. An agent can check a client's mortgage eligibility, compare financing options from several banks, and follow applications as they move through approval. Property listings sit inside the same system, alongside centralised deal management tools and visibility on commissions owed.

XOTO has set a target of 400 partner brokers onboarded around the country by the end of December 2026. The joint venture pairs that software with Ikonic International's business network and operating experience.

For brokers, the practical appeal of one system is fewer handoffs: eligibility, bank comparison, application status and commission sit in a single record instead of being spread across inboxes and spreadsheets.

Ikonic International, established in 2018, sits inside Sawarthia Group, whose trading history goes back to 1979 and which has operated in Dubai since 2004. Ikonic's own activities run well beyond property: mobile phone distribution, motorcycle leasing, last-mile delivery, limousine services, agribusiness, wealth management and bullion trading. The announcement put the wider group's aggregate annual revenue at more than US$3 billion.

Nikunj Sawarthia, managing director of Ikonic International, said the XOTO tie-up reflects a commitment to supporting technology-driven businesses with meaningful long-term growth potential. Ikonic brings operational experience and established market relationships into the venture, he said, drawing on a family business legacy that dates to 1979. The two sides aim to create practical value for the UAE broker community and to build a scalable, sustainable real estate technology business, he said.

Hirdeyjeet Singh, chief operating officer of XOTO, said the company wants to change how brokers handle property transactions by embedding AI tools in their day-to-day operations. The goal, he said, is to help brokers work smarter, respond faster and convert opportunities more efficiently, rather than simply digitising processes that already exist. XOTO's tools stretch from identifying a buyer's mortgage eligibility through to managing the transaction journey, he said.

XOTO has scheduled a session at Capital Club in Dubai on October 16 to demonstrate XO Bot, its AI tool built to help brokers with mortgage and property transactions.

The logic behind the arrangement is distribution. Software for brokers is only as useful as the number of desks running it, and a diversified trading group brings balance-sheet weight and commercial relationships that a young platform would otherwise take years to assemble. For Sawarthia, the venture is a route into real estate technology without building the product in-house. Growth will be measured less by features than by adoption: how quickly a fragmented intermediary market settles on one workflow tool, and whether brokers stay on it after the first deal closes.