Pakistani start-ups raised around $375 million in the year ended Dec. 31, 2021, while doubling their overall investment received in the last six years, according to data shared by two major firms which monitor foreign investments in startups.
The multitude of overseas capital into Pakistani firms that started during the COVID pandemic is continuing undiminished, with the startup scene in the world’s fifth-largest nation having a breakout year in 2021.
Pakistan startups raised more than $375 million in 2021, that’s two times more versus the last six years combined,” Alpha Beta Core CEO Khurram Schehzad, said in a statement. “Investment in Pakistan startups grows by leaps and bounds.”
Another organization named Invest2Innovate (I2I), which also keeps track of funding flows to startups, has put the inflow figure at $350 million.
Statistics shared by Alpha Beta Core, a startup investment advisory platform, for the year 2021 showed the percentage share of Pakistani startups in the following fields:
- 32 percent in logistics (highest share)
- 27 percent in e-commerce
- 25 percent in Fintech
- 4 percent in healthtech and edtech
Data shared by I2I also highlighted that 81 investment deals were made by Pakistani startups during the outgoing year, as compared to 174 deals worth $231 million made from 2015 to 2020.
Leading Startups:
Following are the major startups that shared the funding in 2021:
- Airlift technologies was found to be the largest single private funding round in the history of Pakistan with a $85 million funding in Series B funding round which closed in August last year.
- Bazaar, a B2B marketplace, raised $30 million.
- Tajir raised $17 million
- TAG, a fintech startup, raised $17.5 million.
- Bookme, anonline travel and ticketing platform, raised $7.5 millionin Series A rounds last month.
- A beauty and fashion startup, Bagallery, raised $4.5 million in the last month’s Series A round.
- Krave Mart, the first to introduce quick-commerce in Pakistan, raised $6 million in a pre-seed funding round to expand its operations in Karachi and other major cities.
As per the experts, the funding rush is expected to continue in 2022 because of the massive intact market in Pakistan with 188 million cellular subscribers, 107 million 3G/4G users, and 110 million Internet users.